And Now For Something Completely Different
by Rayna Lissesul
Summary: He called her female, woman, girl... They named her Mileyx... He designated her Virva, left a journal with her true name, Issura... Whoever she was, she left when he died. Now, she can either go back, or help the one destined to kill her stop them.
1. New Heartless

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(New Heartless)

Roxas stared down at the woman in confusion, tilting his head one way, then the other.

"Who're you?"

She didn't answer. Roxas knew she wouldn't, seeing as she was unconscious, but he had felt it necessary to ask his question out loud anyway.

Frowning, Roxas sat back in his chair and looked around the room. They were in one of the many unused rooms of The Castle That Never Was, one that had the trademark white walls, floors, ceilings… everything. The only things in the room that weren't white were Roxas, the metal that made the skeleton of the woman's bed, and the woman's hair, which was so shockingly pink it would put Marluxia to shame.

Roxas's frown deepened. That was one of the many odd things about this girl, her hair. Another thing that was odd was her skin. It was so white, he was sure that if she stepped out into the sun she would have her own measurable albedo. Her skin was white enough to challenge the white of the walls of the castle, which was saying something. On top of all of that, her face bore a frightening resemblance to Larexne, whom she also looked close in age to.

But it wasn't her odd characteristics that confused and worried Roxas; her presence alone was more than capable of doing that.

"You're not a member of the Organization," He muttered, "So you must be an intruder. Superior told us to kill any intruders, but you don't seem like a threat… Did you break in just to sleep?" Roxas shook his head, "Well, no matter, you can't stay here. Sorry, but you gotta go." He reached out and grabbed the sheet covering her, just to freeze when a white hand shot up and grabbed his wrist.

Gulping, Roxas looked at her face, his eyes widening when her head turned slowly to face him. Her eyelids flickered, then snapped open, pupil-less blue eyes staring at him.

Roxas's mouth opened in a silent scream, then shut quickly.

They stared at each other for a moment, then the woman grabbed Roxas by the shoulders and vaulted over him, dashing to the door and throwing it open. She ran briefly into Axel, only to spin past him and take off down the hall.

Axel stared after her, quirking a brow at her sparse clothing of a simple, thigh-long medical paper dress, then turned to Roxas, frowning at the shock on the boy's face. "Roxas, what are you doing in Vexen's specimen room?"

"Spe-ci-men?" Roxas repeated slowly, his eyes widening with each syllable.

"Yeah. Specimen room." Axel repeated, "He just claimed this room three days ago as his for his newest experiment. Didn't you get the memo?"

Roxas blinked, "No. …So… if this was his specimen room, then was that…"

They stared at each other for a moment, then tore off down the hall after the woman, both sharing one thought.

'Crap.'


	2. Vexen's Creation

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(Vexen's Creation)

She ran.

She knew not why she ran, but she did, anyway.

In all reality, she shouldn't have to run, but when she woke up in that room and Master hadn't been there, her mind had blanked and she had preformed the first reasonable action; running.

Never mind, recap. She knew why she was running, but she didn't know where she was running to. All she knew was she was running, she was being chased, and she needed to find Master.

"Hey! Slow down!"

She ran faster.

The voice of the person who had yelled at her did not match the voice of Maser, so she had no reason to listen. If anything, until she found Master, she should do exactly the opposite of what anyone told her to do, because doing otherwise would just slow her down in finding Master.

…Actually, after evaluating that thought further, she found that there were endless scenarios in which doing the exact opposite of whatever anyone told her to do would actually slow her search, so she decided to just not listen to anyone, period.

Unless they were Master; then she would listen.

"HEY! DID YOU HEAR ME?!"

She ran even faster. The faster she ran, though, the more she realized that it would be impractical to continue her search much further in the clothes she was in, if it could even be considered clothes. It was really just a thin tube of cloth covering her body.

But, no matter what she considered it, it was tedious. It kept threatening to slide up over her hips or down over her chest. Not that it really mattered, she saw no point in using the cloth if it was just going to impede her, but Master seemed to be partial to what he called 'clothes', himself, so she thought it would be best to follow his lead.

In short, she needed new garments.

As she rounded a corner, she fell to her stomach and slid between two men walking side by side, one with long blue hair and the other with short blonde hair and a sideburn/beard/moustache combination. She didn't need to look longer than three seconds to know that neither of those men were Master, so when she had slid past them she jumped back to her feet and continued running.

"Hey!" One of the men shouted, but she ran on.

"Saïx! Luxord! After her!"

This was not good. Now she had four people chasing her, and her garment was as disagreeable as ever. She needed to remedy that, and quick.

As if on cue, yet another man walked out of a door some ways in front of her, carrying a bundle of what looked like clothes in his hands.

Preparing herself, she deftly reached out and snatched the bundle of the man's hands just as he had looked up and noticed her. Then he was gone, the one blue-grey eye peeking out from behind the mess of silver hair unable to register shock before she was ten feet away and still running.

Turning yet another corner, she separated what she had in her hands and looked at it carefully, choosing to pull on the black pants before she tried to put on the long jacket. Clenching the jacket in her teeth, she slid through a door that led to yet another hall and ducked into a corner, pulling up the pants quickly and listening out the door at the same time.

"Zexion! Did a girl just run past here?!"

"She did. And she took my clothes."

"Which way did she go?! …She took your clothes?" Laughter.

"I don't find this funny, Axel. I only have one pair of clean clothes and I need to change. All of my other pairs are dirty from dealing with the Heartless." Pause. "Why are there so many of you chasing her?"

"She's one of Vexen's experiments. Now, where is she?"

"Vexen… She's behind that door, listening to everything we're saying."

She was back on her feet half a second later, running down the hall and pulling on Zexion's jacket.

'They know Master. Wouldn't it be prudent to ask them for help?'

'Just because they know Master doesn't mean they're his allies. It's too great a risk to take.' As she argued back and forth with herself, she reached into the jacket and tore off the medical dress, tossing it aside and zipping up the jacket.

She was pushing open a set of doors when she crashed into another person, this one a woman.

"Watch where you're going…!" The woman trailed off, staring at her in confusion, "Who are you?"

She stared at the blonde woman for a moment, then slipped around her and ran on when she heard the men catching up.

"Hey! What's going on here?!"

"Just run after her, Larxene! We have to catch her!" The one known as Axel shouted.

"Then just do it this way!"

Pain bloomed in her calf and she fell down, hand clutching at a dagger buried into her skin. She gritted her teeth.

"Larxene, no! She's one of Vexen's experiments!"

"All the more reason to, I'd say." Larxene replied nonchalantly.

She turned around and stared at the six people, hand still gripping the handle of the dagger.

The tall bearded blonde sighed and shook his head, "Regardless of anyone's personal feelings towards Vexen, she's still his. If Vexen complains to Superior, you could be facing consequences."

"Pfft, whatever." Larxene scoffed, crossing her arms, "I don't really give a damn."

"You should." Zexion said, walking forward, "Now, let's collect her and return her to Vexen." They all turned to her.

Tensing, she stood and narrowed her eyes at them, crouching slightly and holding out one hand, the other still clutching the dagger.

The redhead, Axel, shook his head, "It's pointless, girl. Larxene hit a pretty vulnerable spot, especially for humans. Just give up and save yourself the pain."

Her eyes narrowed even further and she barred her teeth, ripping out the dagger and holding it out in front of her. She winced at the pain, but only slightly.

The six people blinked.

"Didn't that hurt?!" Axel scratched the back of his head, frowning at her, "I mean, come on, humans do have nerve endings, don't they?"

She opened her mouth and hissed, crouching lower.

"Uuuuh, Axel," Roxas shook his head, "I'm not sure she's entirely human…"

Axel nodded, "I think you're right."

"Regardless, she's still injured." The blue-haired one, Saïx, said, "Let's just catch her and get this over with."

At this, she dropped the dagger and turned, running off.

"DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT YOU JUST GOT STABBED IN THE BACK OF THE LEG?!" Axel shouted, running after her.

She did, indeed, know. She could feel the heat of the injury, the throbbing pain and the blood soaking the back of her leg. She knew perfectly well that it was there. She just didn't care… or… at least, she wasn't designed to care.

'Have to find Master. Have to find Master.' She thought over and over, her breathing becoming slightly labored and her face becoming cold. 'Have to find Master.'

She burst through another door, nearly tripping over her feet when her eyes focused in on the person standing in the middle of the room.

"Master!"

Vexen and the man he had been talking to turned to her, the scientist quirking a brow as she stumbled over to him and latched onto his arm, "And what are you doing awake? You should be out for another four days, at least."

The door slammed open again and her six pursuers ran in, all of them stopping and staring at the woman, Vexen, and the other man.

"Vexen! Superior!" Axel took half a step back.

"Hmm," Vexen frowned, staring at the six, "I see you all have met my newest creation. Good. That saves me the trouble of introducing you all individually." He looked down at the woman, frowning slightly, "What happened to the back of your leg?"

"I was attacked, Master." The woman said, stepping back and bowing, "Forgive me, but I will need medical attention."

Vexen furrowed his brow, "Attacked by whom, exactly?"

"The one known as 'Larxene'." She responded immediately, no emotion evident in her face.

When Larxene inhaled sharply, Vexen looked at her and smirked, "Don't blame her, Larxene, it's how I designed her. She won't give a second thought to 'ratting someone out', I believe it is phrased." He turned to Xemnas and nodded, "As you can see, Superior, the girl is quick, efficient, and simple. When she has a single objective in mind, finding me in this case, she completes the objective in the quickest manner possible, unless instructed otherwise. She pushes aside all other distractions, even pain."

At the mention of this, the girl shuddered and collapsed, grabbing her knee.

Vexen and the others looked down at her, the scientist smirking, "Of course, once the objective is reached, she will focus on other pertinent things, but once instructed she will obey. Girl, stand."

She did so immediately, the pain that she had previously been displaying vanishing in a moment.

"Remain stationary."

She did, staring ahead.

Vexen smirked, "She is now oblivious to the pain in her calf, and will remain so until I tell her she is free to move. Like so: at ease."

She gasped and fell back to the floor, clutching her leg again.

Vexen turned to Xemnas and nodded, "She'll do whatever she is told, no matter the toll on herself."

Xemnas nodded, "I see… And I take it, judging by her human form, that she is a Nobody?"

"Of course not." Vexen scoffed, looking down at her, "She is a Heartless, nothing more and nothing less. Her human form is entirely coincidence, but she is a higher end Heartless capable of speech and some degree of individual thought, but no free will. Beyond speech, though, she is no different from a Large Body or a Blue Rhapsody."

"Magnificent." Xemnas looked at the girl and smirked, "And what was she designed for?"

Vexen looked down at the girl, "Well? Do you know what you were made for?"

She nodded, pain vanishing from her face as she stood and mechanically recited, "I exist for the sole purpose of serving my Master and protecting my Master and my Master alone from anyone and anything that threatens his life or well being, no matter the toll on my body or the bodies of those around me. Master is ultimate." Done talking, she fell back to the ground and moaned.

"'From anyone and anything…'" Xemnas repeated, glancing at Vexen cattily, "I'm assuming that includes members of the Organization?"

Vexen shrugged, "I have no idea why anyone of our own outfit would attack me, but yes, I suppose she would defend me from any inside attacks."

The door opened and five more men walked in, stopping and looking around in confusion.

"What's goin' on here?" One of them, a young blonde man with a mullet asked.

"Good. They're all here. Girl." She blinked and looked at Vexen, who nodded down at her, "Look at each person as I point and memorize what I tell you. Xemnas." He pointed to the man he had been talking to, a tall person with long silver hair and tanned skin.

"Xigbar." The man with a scar and an eye patch.

"Xaldin." The man with pronounced sideburns and dreadlocks.

"Lexaeus." The burly man with orange hair.

"Zexion." The man with silver hair and blue-grey eyes.

"Saïx." The man with long blue hair.

"Axel." The man with wild red hair.

"Demyx." The younger man with the mullet.

"Luxord." The man with short blonde hair and the mustache/beard/sideburn combination.

"Marluxia." The man with pink hair.

"Larxene." The only female.

"Roxas." The youngest of them all.

When he was done, she nodded, "Memorization completed, Master."

Vexen nodded, "Good. These are my associates. Familiarize yourself with them and, unless ordered otherwise, recognize them as my allies."

She nodded, bowing, "It is understood, Master. I shall do as you command."

"That you will." Vexen turned to the eleven standing before the door and nodded, gesturing to the girl, "This is my creation. From this point on she will be living here, in the castle, to serve as both my bodyguard and servant."

Axel frowned and crossed his arms, "What's her name?"

"She has none." Vexen replied, frowning, "She is a breed of Heartless, thus she does not have an individual name. I suppose I do have to give her type a designation, though…" He looked down at her, brow furrowing, "I'll need some time to consider this." Sighing, Vexen flicked his hand lazily at her, a green light surrounding her leg and healing the wound. "Mingle with them for a bit." He ordered, waving her off, "I'll call you when I need you." He turned and walked off, Xemnas accompanying him.

She stared after him for a moment, then turned back to the eleven and blinked, not saying a word.

"Well…" Axel said after a moment, "Now what?"


	3. Ineffectual Fighter

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(Ineffectual Fighter)

"So," Axel said, tilting his head as he looked the woman up and down, "You're Vexen's creation, eh?"

She nodded, "Yes, Master Axel."

Axel froze, staring at her, "'Master' Axel? What's up with that?"

"Yeah," Larxene snickered, "Because Axel isn't 'Master' of anything."

"You are all Masters, Mistress Larxene." The Heartless woman said, nodding to Larxene, "Master recognizes you as associates, so you above me. Thus, you are Masters."

"That so?" Luxord said, "So what does Vexen call you?"

"Girl." She answered, blinking.

Luxord frowned, "Anything else?"

"Woman."

The Nobodies blinked.

She blinked back, "Female."

"Very imaginative, isn't he?" Marluxia drawled, quirking a brow.

Xigbar strolled towards the Heartless, looking her up and down, "You know, you look kinda familiar."

The Heartless blinked, "I just awoke for the first time an hour and forty-three minutes ago, Master Xigbar."

He nodded, "I get that, but Vexen _designed_ you, didn't he?" He bent to get a closer look at her face, smirking, "Well, I think he may have had a bit of inspiration in that department."

"How so?" Xaldin asked, walking up beside him.

"Is it just me," Xigbar said, standing and setting a hand on the girl's shoulder, smirking back at the rest of the Organization, "Or does her face resemble Larxene's?"

After staring at her for a moment, everyone but Larxene burst into laughter.

"Holy shit, it does!" Demyx exclaimed, clutching his stomach.

Larxene pursed her lips, "Why that…" She trailed off in a strung of mumbles and grumbles, crossing her arms as her eye began to twitch.

Xaldin smirked, reaching out and grabbing a lock of the Heartless's hair, "And am I mistaken, or don't her hair and eyes have the same color scheme as Marluxia's?"

The laughter grew as Marluxia fell silent, his eyes narrowing into a glare.

When the noise had died down a bit, the girl nodded, "Master did, indeed, model me to some extent after both Master Marluxia and Mistress Larxene."

"He told you that?" Xigbar asked, smirking down at her, "Did he happen to tell you why?"

She nodded, "Because they are the most effeminate members of Organization XIII."

The laughter returned, this time tenfold, and Marluxia and Larxene glared at the Heartless as if they wanted to brutalize her in any and every manner possible.

Laughing, Xigbar shook his head and looked back down at her, "Why did he make you female, anyway? Did it really matter? Or did he just want to screw with Larxene and Marluxia?"

She blinked, "Breeding purposes, I believe. If I prove to be a success, he wants to mix my DNA with the DNA of other Heartless and see if he can create more powerful strains of Heartless. That, and females tend to be more docile."

The laughter died a bit around the room and Xigbar shook his head, smirking, "If you weren't being dull by accident, you'd kill the joke in everything."

The Heartless blinked, "I don't understand."

"And you probably never will." Larxene said, stretching her arms over her head, "Well, as fun as this has been, I'm going to go find something more entertaining to do… like watch the grass grow."

This earned a few chuckles and the rest of the members started to drift apart, almost leaving the Heartless completely alone. Two of them, though, did stay near her, scrutinizing her closely.

"She's supposed to be Vexen's bodyguard, he said?" Xigbar asked, scratching the side of his face, "She doesn't look particularly skilled…"

Xaldin nodded, "Other than her extreme stoic disposition, she doesn't seem to have any other redeeming qualities. Then again," He glanced at Xigbar, "We also haven't seen her in action."

Xigbar smirked, "That we haven't. Hey, girl." She blinked and looked up at him, "You up to a little sparring session?"

She blinked, "Would sparring be considered… mingling?"

"Sure, why not?" Xigbar shrugged, "So, whaddya say?"

The Heartless nodded, "If you wish."

He smirked, "Then let's go to my zone."

A black portal opened and the three stepped through, emerging into a room with a thin floor that dropped off into nothing and several smaller, higher platforms scattered around in the air.

"Okay," Xigbar clapped his hands, summoning two gun-shaped weapons, "So, in the case where you aren't able to receive any orders from Vexen, what would you do?"

The Heartless blinked, "Take orders from the highest ranked member of the Organization available."

"Which, in this situation, would be me." Xigbar concluded, smirking.

She blinked again, then nodded, "I suppose."

He nodded, "Good. So, here are your orders: Fight however you wish and don't think about the pain factor whatsoever; I won't fight you to the point of death. Just give it everything you've got."

The Heartless went rigid, bowing, "It is understood, Master Xigbar."

Xigbar and Xaldin blinked, exchanging grins. "Quick on the uptake." Xaldin said, smirking, "Good. That'll definitely help you survive this place." He jumped and disappeared, reappearing on a platform several feet away. "I'll act as referee. Get ready."

Xigbar looked at the girl and crouched, a feral grin planting itself on his face.

"Go!"

Xigbar disappeared.

The Heartless blinked, looking around. Then there was a bang and she stumbled forward, grabbing her shoulder. She looked at her blood-coated hand, wriggling her fingers a few times before turning to where the shot had come from.

Xigbar was standing on one of the floating platforms, smirking down at her, "Gotta be quicker, girl." He disappeared again.

This time, the Heartless held her arms straight out and closed her eyes. Her wrists turned slowly so her palms were facing up and she stood ramrod straight, fixated on the spot like a cross.

Xigbar stopped and took aim, shaking his head, "Game over, girl." And he fired.

Both he and Xaldin blinked, though, when she took a step back, the shot missing her completely.

Frowning, Xigbar teleported to another platform on the opposite side of the room and fired again, his frown deepening when she stepped aside at the last minute.

"Vexen give you super senses, or something?"

"Advanced hearing." She answered, stepping out of the way of another shot, "Among other things." She dodged eleven shots in a row, spinning in a circle and stopping to face him.

Xigbar scowled, teleporting to another area and taking aim, "Like what?"

She spun around quickly, her eyes snapping open and one of her hands aiming at him, "Freeze."

Xigbar, who had been expecting an ice-based attack, blinked when his entire body seized up and refused to move. Frowning, he struggled and tried to free himself, giving up when he knew he wouldn't be moving until she released him.

The Heartless pointed to her temple, her face blank when Xigbar's arm raised and mimicked her action, pointing his own gun against his temple.

"Bang."

She lowered her hand.

Xigbar shuddered when he regained control of his body, smirking at the girl and teleporting back in front of her. "Nice."

"Though odd." Xaldin commented, teleporting back to them, "It's a bit ironic that he gave her the power to control wills when she has none of her own."

The sharpshooter shook his head, his guns disappearing, "The perfect cliché."

The Heartless blinked, then reached up and grabbed her shoulder, moaning slightly as she recognized the pain from the wound in her shoulder for the first time.

The two Nobodies shook their heads, Xaldin flicking his wrist and healing her shoulder.

"Okay, so the summary is this," Xigbar said, crossing his arms and nodding to Xaldin, "She's stoic to a fault, follows orders exactly, has above average hearing, and can bend the wills of others." He glanced back at the girl, "Can you use a weapon?"

"No."

"Can you fight hand to hand?"

She shook her head, "No."

Xaldin rolled his eyes, "Go figure the ineffectual fighter would breed an ineffectual fighter."

Just then, a black portal opened beside them.

The Heartless blinked, then walked purposefully into it, not saying a word.

Xaldin and Xigbar watched silently as she walked through, the portal disappearing after her.

"Vexen must have called." Xaldin said, glancing at Xigbar.

The sharpshooter nodded, "Poor kid."

* * *

"You called, Master?" She bowed.

Vexen looked up from his notes, "Tell me, what have you learned?"

"Xigbar and Xaldin are two of the most powerful, thought not necessarily the brightest. Larxene is a sadist who is ruled by anger, Axel is a rebel, Marluxia is planning something, and Roxas may not completely be with the group. The rest I am… unsure of."

He nodded, "And who do you think you could take in a fair fight?"

"Fair?" She blinked, "Perhaps Roxas, but that would be it. Xigbar lost to me only because he was off of his guard. Had he known, his will would have easily overpowered my own."

"As I thought." Vexen mumbled, closing his notebook, "And, what if you were to use your… special power? What then?"

The Heartless blinked, "Not even Xemnas would be able to survive."

"Good." Vexen nodded, "But remember, never use it unless I give you express orders. It is not an ability to be taken lightly, and you are only capable of performing it once."

She nodded, then frowned, "Sir… what was the action they performed when they learned that you modeled me after Larxene and Marluxia?"

"I don't know." Vexen said, standing and taking his notebook to a bookshelf, "What was the action?"

The Heartless thought for a moment, then opened her mouth, "Ha ha ha ha ha."

Vexen shook his head, sliding the notebook into place, "That is what is known as a laugh. It is an action that is performed when one experiences something that amuses them. Though, in the case of Nobodies, the term is used rather loosely."

"Amusement…" She repeated, her head tilting slightly.

"An emotion you would know nothing about." Vexen said, looking through the bookshelf and pulling down a heavy text, "You were not designed to know what emotions are and you do not have a heart, thus you cannot feel them."

"Can I be conditioned to recognize emotions?"

"Perhaps." He walked past her, heading for the door, "But it is not an experiment we will conduct with you. Now, I have to go work in the lab. Keep out of trouble." The door slammed shut.

The Heartless stared ahead blankly, then looked down at her hand and frowned, "But… that doesn't mean I can't do it alone… right?" Her frown deepened and she turned, walking out of the door Vexen had just exited and walking through the lab.

Vexen, who was deep into his text, didn't notice her leave his room.

The Heartless stood in the circular room, looking around her at the different doors that led to each Nobody's room. Taking a moment to memorize the number above the door of her Master, she walked out of the room and started to wander the halls.

'Self-appointed mission… explore the world of emotions.'


	4. A Quest for Emotions

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(A Quest for Emotions)

_Day 1 of Mission: Emotion_

_3 hours and 21 minutes after awakening_

_First Subjects: Axel and Roxas_

"You want to study us… to learn about emotions?" Axel asked, quirking a brow.

The Heartless nodded, "Yes, Master Axel. I was… confused by your reactions earlier, so I thought it would be best to learn more about the topic of emotions so that, if necessary, I might be of better help to Master. According to Masters Xigbar and Xaldin, I am an… ineffectual fighter."

Axel blinked, "They told you that, huh? And you really think that learning about emotions is going to help you make up for lacking in fighting technique?"

"My skills are largely based on the mentalities of others, Master Axel." She said, blinking, "It is my conclusion that understanding the minds of others better will, indeed, improve my abilities."

"Alright." Axel shrugged, looking down at Roxas and smirking, "You up to having a robot following us around for a bit?"

Roxas shrugged, "Sure. What are we going to do first?"

Axel smirked, "We're going to explore the emotion of… amusement…" He rubbed his hands together, cackling, "And our target will be… Zexion."

* * *

The Heartless stopped what she was doing and looked up, blinking, "I fail to see how this is amusing."

"It's not supposed to be funny yet." Axel groaned, glaring at her, "Now, pick that crayon back up and keep coloring! And don't forget to stay in the lines." He laughed to himself.

She looked down at her book, her brow furrowing, "But… there are no lines. This is a purely textual book."

"Just color!"

She picked up a green crayon and stared at the page, then started drawing lines and coloring in certain areas. She dropped the green crayon, then picked up another color. And another. And another. And another.

"Whoa…" Roxas looked over her shoulder, his mouth dropping open, "Abstract art…"

"What?" Axel dropped his book and walked over to them, gapping at what she had done in the book, "Holy shit…"

They all froze when the door handle jiggled, Axel grabbing them both and dragging them to the back of the room where he opened and portal and jumped through with them. They reappeared right outside of Zexion's room just as the door shut. They waited a moment, then when they heard Zexion scream, Axel grabbed them again and dove into his room and slammed the door.

"That!" Axel said, looking at her and grinning, "Was funny!" He then broke down into gales of laughter beside Roxas.

The Heartless blinked. 'Note taken.'

_Day 1 of Mission: Emotion_

_6 hours and 47 minutes after awakening_

_Trial Run_

Having witnessed firsthand what Axel and Roxas classified as 'fun', the Heartless decided to try it out for herself to see if she could find any 'amusement' from it. So, after choosing a 'target', she started a long, tedious process to make sure everything went right.

'First step: Get into Marluxia's bathroom undetected.'

She walked quietly from Vexen's room to Marluxia's, placing her palm against the door and listening carefully.

'Good. He's not there.' She opened the door and slipped in, ignoring the flowery wallpaper, bedspread, and the flower-shaped vanity and walking straight into his bathroom. Shutting the door behind her, she opened the shower door and grabbed the shampoo and conditioner, opening the tops and taking a small vial out of her coat. 'Second step: Contamination. …Just a few drops should do it…'

Three drops fell into both shampoo and conditioner and the caps were replaced, both bottles were shaken and replaced, and she snuck out of Marluxia's room and back to Vexen's.

'Final Step: Hide. Now, I wait for the results.'

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Thirteen people stood back silently, watching as Marluxia, now bald with an insanely red scalp, ran around the circular room, screaming until his face was purple.

Waiting until he had run past, the Heartless walked over to Axel and frowned, "I'm not sure I did it right… I don't find this amusing in the least."

Axel looked down at her, his eyes wide, "YOU DID THIS?!"

"Yes. And it's not funny. Did you teach me correctly?"

The flame user stared at her, then winced when he felt all eyes on him.

"AXEL!"

* * *

"Alright." Vexen breathed, shaking his head, "I talked Xemnas out of killing you, though I really ought to have let him. It was, though, Axel's fault, so he will be taking the blame for this one." He glared at her, "But that is something I never want you to do again. Is that clear? No more practical jokes."

She bowed, "Yes, Master." When she was alone again, she frowned. 'Attempt one; failure. Apparently, not everyone finds the same things funny, and there are borders that can be crossed in the area of 'practical jokes'. So, it's time to move on.'

_Day 2 of Mission: Emotion_

_16 hours and 5 minutes after awakening_

_New Subjects: Xigbar and Xaldin_

"You're still alive?" Xigbar asked, quirking a brow, "I was sure you'd be dead after what you did to Marluxia."

"It was decided that the incident was Axel's fault, so I was given express orders to never do it again." The Heartless said.

Xaldin shook his head, "Yeah, I can see that. You aren't supposed to have free will, so if anything Axel said came off as a command to you, you would have done it without a second thought."

"Yeah." Xigbar nodded, "So, what did you want?"

The Heartless bowed, "Masters Xigbar and Xaldin, would it be alright if I studied you and your habits?"

The Nobodies exchanged glances, then shrugged. "Sure."

* * *

_Day 2 of Mission: Emotion_

_18 hours and 39 minutes after awakening_

_Trial Run_

"Curse this formula." Vexen muttered, glaring down at the vial of bubbling green liquid, "What am I doing wrong?!"

"Just #$(*&# it."

Vexen looked up and blinked, staring at the Heartless with wide eyes, "What?"

She shrugged, "I said just #$(*&# it. If the %*&#(&! piece of %*$# doesn't want to work, just #$(*&# it. Move on to the next $#*&# experiment and quit your $#(*#$$(# about it. $#*#$&, I'm sick and tired of hearing you $(*#&$ whine about this kind of #$*#& all $*#(*$# day long."

Vexen stared at her, his jaw almost touching the floor, "WHERE DID YOU LEARN THAT LANGUAGE!?"

"$(*&# Xaldin and $*#U#($*# Xigbar, the two sickest mother-$(*&#$*# in all of Organization XIII." The Heartless answered, smirking cockily.

Vexen just gapped at her.

After a moment, the Heartless's smirk failed abruptly and she stood, walking out of the room and seeking out Xigbar and Xaldin. When she found them, she approached them, "I think something is $(*&#$# wrong. Saying all of these $*&#* words isn't helping relieve any of Master's *#$&#* stress. That, and I can't seem to stop *$#&# saying all of these $#*&# words."

The two Nobodies exchanged glances, then burst into laughter.

* * *

(Two Days of Intense Conditioning Later)

The Heartless emerged from Vexen's lab and stretched, her back cracking in several places. 'I'd rather avoid doing that again… Attempt two; failure. According to the results, using 'expletives' to relieve stress only works if you are the one feeling the stress and you are the one using the 'expletives', not any other way. In addition, some people find these 'expletives' to be offensive and not stress relieving in the least. So, next area.'

_Day 4 of Mission: Emotion_

_49 hours and 22 minutes after awakening_

_New Subject: Demyx_

The Heartless knocked on Demyx's door, bowing when he answered, "Greetings, Master Demyx. May I come in?"

Demyx shrugged, "Sure." He stepped aside, shutting the door after her.

"May I study you?" She asked, turning to face him.

Demyx quirked a brow, "Pretty 'to the point', aren't ya? Study me for what?"

"I am researching emotions." The Heartless answered, bowing, "And it would be of tremendous help if you would assist."

Demyx shrugged, "Sure. What emotion do you want to do?"

She blinked, "What emotions are there?"

"Well…" He scratched the back of his head, glancing over at his instrument and snapping his fingers, "I think I've got it."

* * *

_Day 4 of Mission: Emotion_

_52 hours and 0 minutes after awakening_

_Trial Run_

When all of the Nobodies had gathered in the dining hall, the Heartless decided it was time to act. Grabbing the practice lute she had borrowed from Demyx, she walked over to Luxord and Larxene, who where sitting together and talking.

Stepping up onto the long, white table, she walked down the length of it and sat down in front of the two, taking a moment to tune the instrument. By the time she was done, she had the attention of every Nobody in the room.

Coughing lightly, she said, "This one goes out to Luxord and Larxene. As a side note, I do not own this song, Bonnie Raitt does." She coughed again, then started to play a song.

"_Oooohh._

_Oooohh._

_Oooohh._

_People are talkin'_

_Talkin' 'bout people_

_I hear them whisper_

_Uh-huh_

_You won't believe it_

_They think we're lovers_

_Kept undercover_

_I just ignore it_

_But they keep sayin'_

_We laugh just a little too loud_

_We stand just a little too close_

_We stare just a little too long_

_Maybe they're seeing_

_Something we don't, darlin'_

_Let's give them something to talk about._

_Let's give them something to talk about._

_Let's give them something to talk about,_

_How about loooooooove?_"

She had to stop abruptly when Larxene jumped at her, dropping the lute and holding out her hands. "Freeze."

Though Larxene did freeze, she started twitching immediately and the Heartless jumped to her feet, abandoning the lute and fleeing the dining room. She hid where she knew no one would find her, Xemnas's bathroom, not coming out for three hours.

Back in Vexen's room, the scientist was waiting for her, his eyes narrowed. "As much as I am willing to agree that that was, to some level, amusing, I'll ask that you never do that again. I won't punish you because, technically, it wasn't a practical joke, but it was going too far. Now, your cot is over in the corner; go to bed."

While she lay in bed, the Heartless stared at the ceiling and thought.

'Attempt three; failure. I should have taken the connection between the Heartless and the Nobodies more seriously and recognized the fact that trying to find love in this building is impossible. Also, Larxene and Luxord are probably an impossible pair, anyway. Thus, I close the experiment on 'love' and move on to the next emotion…'

* * *

_Day 5 of Mission: Emotion_

_66 hours and 1 minute after awakening_

_New Subject: Uuuuh…_

The three Nobodies stared at the Heartless, waiting.

Zexion crossed his arms and frowned, "Did you want something, miss?"

She sighed and shook her head, "A pre-analysis has proven that no valuable studies will be pulled from you three, so no, Master Zexion, there is nothing. Good day." She turned and walked off, leaving Lexaeus, Zexion and Saïx staring after her in confusion.

Sighing heavily, the Heartless walked to the room of the last person in the Organization she hadn't used in her experiments and walked right into his room, sitting on the end of his bed and staring at him until he woke up.

Xemnas stirred when he felt eyes boring into him, tossing restlessly until he shot up, nearly screaming when he saw Vexen's Heartless sitting on the foot of his bed, staring at him.

"Master Xemnas, I need to talk to you."

He stared at her, his eye twitching, "If you don't get out of my room in the next ten seconds, I'm going to kill you."

She sighed and shook her head, "Then you'd be doing me a favor. I can't stand this anymore!"

"Fine. I'll do you the favor, then." Xemnas lifted his hand and was about to blast her away when she lifted her hand and flicked it at him.

"Please, Maser Xemnas, hear me out first." Xemnas froze in place and she nodded, not realizing what she had done, "You see, Master Xemnas, for the last five days I have been exploring the world of emotions, trying to experience at least one. But, time and time again, I have failed and have been left just as emotionless as I was when I first woke five days ago. I can't take it, sir! I want to feel!"

Finding his mouth was still working, Xemnas said, "You are feeling an emotion right now; it's called defeat. Now, release me."

"Defeat… an emotion?" She looked up, her eyes widening, "And I'm feeling it?!"

Xemnas nodded as well as he could, "Yes, and now you're feeling triumph and elation, other emotions. Now, LET ME GO!"

"This is wonderful!" She jumped to her feet and ran out of the room, "I felt it! I'm still feeling it!" The door slammed shut.

Xemnas tried to move, but found himself still frozen. "Damn."

* * *

She ran up to Vexen, who was talking to Luxord, Xaldin, and Xigbar, and flung herself onto his arm. "I felt it, Master, I felt it!"

Vexen looked down at her, almost afraid to ask, "Felt what?"

"The most wonderful sensation in the world!" She exclaimed, looking up at him with her ever blank face, though her eyes were alive.

The four men exchanged glances, Vexen looking back down at her with wide eyes, "What are you talking about?!"

"Raw, unadulterated emotion, and Master Xemnas helped me feel it!" She shouted, jumping up and down, "I felt the sensation of sensations! I must tell everyone else!" And she ran off, leaving the four men to stare after her with wide eyes.

After a moment, Xigbar tapped Vexen on the shoulder, "She's not fertile, is she?"

Vexen promptly passed out.


	5. Learn to Be Normal

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(Learn to Be Normal…esk)

"But Masterrrrrrr…" She wined, scratching at the door, "I want oooooouuuuuuut! It's so boooooorrrring in here!"

Vexen scowled at her, "After that last incident, do you honestly think I'm going to yield?"

The Heartless shrugged, "It's not my fault you thought Xemnas got me pregnant." She paused, blinking, "How would he have accomplished that, anyway? He's not a scientist. He doesn't have a lab. He doesn't have any test tubes for—"

"SILENCE!" Vexen snapped, clutching his head, "It would appear as though your structure is beginning to wane on a metaphysical level." He looked at her and frowned, "You'll probably have to be terminated."

"There is no need, Master." She said, walking over to her cot and sitting down, her expressionless demeanor returning. "You see, for the past several days, I have been experimenting with emotions and, therefore, their effects and which situations they should be applied in. Being confined to a single room seemed to be an appropriate situation for 'annoyance', thus an appropriate situation for 'whining'. I assure you, Master, my composition is as stable as ever."

The scientist stared at her silently for a moment. "This was all… because of an experiment?"

She nodded, "Yes."

He blinked, "And what… gave you the initiative to do this?"

"You ordered me to mingle and get to know your associates better, and getting to know someone through their emotions seemed to be the easiest solution." She answered. "In addition, I wished to be of more use to you as your bodyguard, and because my abilities are based on the minds of others, I thought it would be best to learn about how emotions worked."

"I see…" Vexen muttered, rubbing his chin, "Learning about emotions so that you could use them to your advantage, is it?" A smirk twitched at his lips, "Smart, girl, I must admit. For a being lacking free will, you aren't lacking in the imagination department."

She blinked, "I was only using the information you had given me, Master. All praise, if any, should go to you."

Vexen smirked, pondering this, "Yes, yes I suppose." His face then returned to its usual deadpan and he said, "From this point on, though, warn me before you do such things so that I can at least explain your actions to the others. I'm tiring quickly of receiving death threats." He sat down at his lab bench and waved her off, "You may go, now."

The Heartless stood and bowed, "As you wish, Master." Outside the room, she looked around the foyer and blinked. Usually, there were at least two people standing somewhere in the circular area, chatting idly or complaining about something. Today, though, it was empty.

Blinking again, the Heartless walked out of the foyer and around the halls, doing absolutely nothing and looking for absolutely nothing. That didn't stop her from running into something, though.

"Hey!" Larxene shouted as they bumped into each other, "Watch were you're—" Seeing who she was talking to, the Nobody went rigid and turned abruptly, walking away.

"Wait!" The Heartless cried, running after her, "Mistress Larxene! I need to ask you something!"

Sighing loudly, Larxene spun on her heel and crossed her arms, glaring down at the younger woman, "Make it fast."

She nodded, "WhydideveryonethinkthatMasterXemnasgotmepregnant? Howcouldhehavemanagedthatwhenhe'snotascientistor—"

"SHUT UP!" Larxene screamed, hands clapped to her ears and eye twitching when the Heartless stopped talking immediately, "What the hell was that about?!"

"I was merely following your orders to 'make it fast', Mistress Larxene." The Heartless responded calmly.

The Nobody stared at her for a moment, then sighed and shook her head, "Alright, ask at a normal pace, then."

The Heartless nodded, "Where do babies come from?"

Larxene stared at the Heartless, her face completely blank.

The Heartless stared back, her face also completely blank.

They stood like this, silent and deadpanned, for several minutes… which stretched into several hours… which may very well have stretched to several days.

The tension could have been cut with a rusty wooden spatula.

Entire worlds could have been suffocated by the weight of the silence.

Larxene almost short-circuited.

Larxene stayed where she was, her mind drawing a complete blank as to how to respond. The Heartless stayed where she was, waiting calmly for an answer.

Finally, Larxene grabbed the Heartless by the arm and dragged her through the maze of halls, bursting into a room where the other twelve members of the Organization where having a drink (tea, coffee, and alcohol).

She pushed the younger woman in front of her and said, "Ask them."

When the eyes off all of the Nobodies were on her, the Heartless asked, "Where do babies come from?"

All of the idle chatter in the room died in a millisecond, the men coming up short as Larxene had. The silence and tension, which had been bad enough with Larxene alone, was almost thick enough to generate electricity, and indeed there were the flashing lights of small sparks in the corners of the room.

The Heartless, though, was as naive and deadpanned as ever, staring straight ahead with a blank face and a slightly rigid posture. Her pupil-less blue eyes scanned the faces of the Nobodies, seemingly completely oblivious to the hesitance, tension, awkwardness, and unease each of them had at the prospect of having to answer the question.

After four small galaxies had been consumed by the large, plushy monster that was the embodiment of the awkward silence in the room, the Heartless tilted her head, long pink hair falling over her shoulder, "According to my limited knowledge of the wonderful sensations I am still learning about, you are all uncomfortable to some degree with my question. Is this because you do not know, or you find it difficult to answer?"

The silence settled again, broken quickly when Marluxia stood from his coffee and walked over to the girl, taking her into a corner and whispering something into her ear.

She backed away after a moment and looked at Vexen, voice listless, "And you eventually want me to do this with other Heartless?"

Vexen blinked, "No. I plan on taking the DNA directly from your body and splicing it in a separate, controlled container. You won't have to… carry… a child."

"Ah." She blinked, a small frown forming on her face, "You thought I did this with Master Xemnas?"

Xemnas choked, spilling his hot tea all over his front and hacking.

The room then fell back into the uncomfortable silence, minus Xemna's choking.

The Heartless blinked, "Am I to conclude from your silence that the answer to my inquiry is 'yes'?"

Axel shook his head, "We should change your species name from 'Heartless' to 'Clueless'."

She frowned, "I am sorry, Master Axel, but if I could get a straight answer this wouldn't be happening. I'm afraid that, even though my diction may say otherwise, I am completely clueless when it comes to… what are they called… 'the facts of life'?"

Xemnas, who had gotten over his choking spell and dried himself off with a 'Fire', shook his head and frowned, looking at Vexen, "This is a problem that must be remedied, Vexen. It's only been five days, but…"

"Look at all that's happened!" Demyx finished, throwing his arms into the air, "She's making all of us look like dickheads!"

"But…" They all turned to the Heartless, who was frowning, "According to Master Marluxia, a 'dic—'"

"DON'T SAY IT!" The Nobodies screamed.

Xemnas groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Vexen…"

"I have an idea!" Roxas exclaimed, jumping to his feet, "Why don't I take her to Twilight Town? She can stay there for a while, get out into the real world, and come back when she's a bit more…"

"Clued in to life?" Axel suggested, shrugging, "That sounds good."

Vexen frowned, "I don't like it… If she goes there, her… disposition could very well be revealed. She is, after all, a Heartless. We haven't seen that side of her yet, but that's because none of us have hearts."

"And if she goes out there, where there are hearts, her hunger may act up." Xemnas finished, frowning, "And she could well end up turning rogue."

"Not if some of us go with her!" Roxas rebutted, smirking, "If even just a couple of us were there to stop her, no one would be able to tell the difference!"

"Yeah, and think about it," Demyx said, standing, "Do we want her mellowed a bit, or do we want…" He trailed off, all of the turning to look at her.

The Heartless, who had zoned out, blinked and frowned when all of them looked at her, "What are the physical distinctions between 'male' and 'female'?"

The Nobodies all turned to Xemnas, who was twitching slightly, "Roxas, you and Larxene take her to Twilight Town."

"Why me?!" Larxene whined, pouting.

"Because you're the only other female here, Larxene." Xemnas growled, glaring at her.

"If Larxene doesn't want to go, I know some people back in Twilight Town who would be happy to help." Roxas offered, scratching the back of his head, "And a few of them are girls."

Xemnas leaned his head back and sighed, "Alright, who knows, right off, that they can't go?" Several hands shot into the air and the man looked around, counting, "So that's Larxene, Vexen, Marluxia, Demyx, Zexion, Saïx, and myself…" He blinked, looking at the rest, "Xaldin? Lexaeus? Luxord? Axel? Xigbar? You're all alright with going?"

They shrugged, Xigbar saying, "She isn't all that bad, she's just a bit… slow."

"'Sides, it'd be nice to get out." Axel said, crossing his arms behind his head.

"Fine." Xemnas nodded, "All of you except Axel can go."

"WHAT?!"

The leader looked at Axel, smirking, "I have several… housecleaning projects I want you to work on."

"Axel is not a maid!" Axel shouted, clenching his hands at his sides, "Axel is a powerful man and a member of this organization!"

"Master Axel is referring to himself in the third person." The Heartless said, blinking, "Should the Heartless do that, too?"

Xemnas rolled his eyes, "Roxas, Xaldin, Xigbar, Lexaeus and Luxord, take the Heartless and depart immediately."

When the five turned towards her, the Heartless looked at Vexen with wide eyes, "Master?"

He glanced at her and waved his hand, "I have work I have to do. Go with them to Twilight Town and take your time learning what you can from human interactions. Don't try to speed through it—"

"Though we will expect you back in two weeks time." Xemnas finished, nodding to her, "That is how long you have."

She ignored him, staring straight at Vexen. "Master? You never finished your instructions."

The Nobodies stared at her, Xemnas frowning.

"We will expect you back in two weeks." Vexen said, taking a drink of his tea, "Finish your education in that time, but try to take your time doing it. Learn carefully."

She bowed, "It is understood, Master." She then turned and walked out the door, the Nobodies staring after her.

"I am sorry about that, Superior." Vexen said, setting down his teacup, "But as long as I am present, she won't obey the orders of anyone but myself unless I tell her otherwise."

Xemnas nodded, "Yes, I thought as much." He turned to the five chosen Nobodies and nodded to them, "Go and take her. You have two weeks time. Good luck."

The five bowed and walked out.

Calm fell over the room as the remaining Nobodies retuned to their drinks and idle chatter.

After a moment, Demyx looked up from his drink and frowned, "Was sending her to learn from humans really a good idea?"

Larxene shrugged, drinking her tea/alcohol mix, "Got her out of our hair for two weeks. What difference does it make?"

"She'll come back acting like a human." Zexion said, frowning, "That's the difference it makes."

"Yeah." Demyx nodded, "And just think about how much more annoying she'll be acting like a human."

Everyone in the room froze for a moment, thinking about the possibilities. They all paled, turning towards Xemnas and Vexen with wide eyes.

Vexen shrugged, "You all wanted this, so you all will have to live with the results."

"Besides," Xemnas took another drink of his tea, "It's too late now. They're already gone."

Larxene, Marluxia, Demyx, Zexion, and Saïx exchanged glances, then took the rest of Xaldin's sake a started to mechanically down it.

Axel just smirked and laughed, "This is gonna be great."

"Oh, Axel, that reminds me. I wanted you to start in the bathrooms…"

"Damn."


	6. Human Interactions: Part I

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(Human Interactions: Part I)

The portal faded and Roxas looked around, puffing out his chest and placing his fists on his hips, smiling triumphantly. "Well, this is it. Twilight Town."

The four Nobodies and the Heartless looked around. They were at the edge of the town, where they could only see the backs of the buildings and the edge of the forest. It looked… less than impressive.

"This is it?" Xigbar asked, quirking a brow, "You always seemed so excited about it, so I thought there'd be… more."

Roxas glared slightly at the older man, "Better than The Castle That Never Was… Besides, we haven't gotten into town, yet."

"Is this where my education begins?" The Heartless asked abruptly, looking around.

"Yep." Xaldin replied, nodding, "It is. So, you'd better start learning."

The Heartless blinked, then turned and looked up at Xigbar, "Master Xigbar?"

He looked down at her, blinking slowly, "Eh?"

"Considering you are the highest ranking member of Organization XIII present, any and all orders I am expected to obey will come from you."

"Oh, yeah." Xigbar said, scratching his chin, "I remember that…" He looked to the others, "Any suggestions?"

"She needs a name." Roxas said abruptly, "We can't just call her 'her' or 'girl' while we're here."

"Right…" Xigbar said slowly, looking down at the girl, "…Wellllll…"

"It should fit with the rest of us." Luxord suggested, crossing his arms, "We all have 'x' names, so she should have one, too."

"So we'll just think up a normal name, then mix the letters around and throw in an x." Roxas said, tilting his head and looking at her, "How about 'Kat'?"

"Oh, right, and how do we mix that up? 'Xatk'? Or 'Takx'?" Xaldin scoffed, shaking his head, "What about 'Jenna'? It could be 'Xennaj', or 'Naxanj'…"

"Can we go with something simple and easy?" Xigbar groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Like 'Kim' or 'Sarah'…"

"'Ikxm'… 'Ximk'… 'Mikx'… 'Rashax'… 'Aaxsh'…" Roxas moaned and grabbed his head, "How did this work for us?!"

"'Mileyx'." Luxord said suddenly, all eyes turning on him, "'Emily' remixed with a silent 'x' on the end to make 'Mileyx'."

Xaldin quirked a brow, "Silent 'x'? Sounds like 'My-lee', to me."

Luxord quirked a brow, back, "Better than what you all were coming up with."

"And it's what we're going with." Xigbar said, turning to the girl and nodding, "From now until we get back to the castle, you're Mileyx. Got it?"

Mileyx nodded, "It is understood, Master Xigbar."

Xigbar frowned, "And no more of this 'Master' stuff until we get back, either. Sounds too weird for where we are."

Mileyx nodded again, frowning, "It is understood… Xigbar…" She choked out the last part, frowning and shaking her head until she had said it.

Roxas nodded, "Well, now that we got that decided, let's go get some normal clothes. These Organization jackets aren't going to cut it. Follow me." He turned and started walking, slipping into an alley.

Waiting beside Xigbar, Mileyx only started walking after he had, sticking close to his right hand side and looking around with wide eyes, sucking in everything she could.

'Master said to learn carefully, so I must start now.' Something caught her eye and she blinked. 'Learn what you can from human interactions… get started…' She walked off, completely forgetting that she was with a group.

They, too, didn't notice she was gone until an hour later.

* * *

_Day 1 of Mission: Human Interaction_

_1 hour after departing from the castle_

_First Subject: Small Child… possibly female_

"Are you a girl?"

The small child, a young girl with long pigtails and a small pink dress, looked up at the Heartless and blinked. "Yes. Are you?"

Mileyx blinked, "I am, or so my Ma-… my Father tells me. What is that you are eating?"

The girl looked at the dripping cone in her hand, "Ice-cream." She looked up at Mileyx and smiled, holding out the cone, "It's chocolate! You want to try?"

Mileyx tilted her head, "Would it be considered 'human interaction'?"

The girl shrugged, "I dunno, but it would be tasty!"

"Very well…" Mileyx knelt down and stuck her finger into a small part of the chocolate ball, blinking and pulling it back quickly. "It's cold."

"Duh!" The girl giggled, "It's supposed to be! It's ice-cream!"

"Ice-cream…" Mileyx stuck her finger into her mouth, her eyes widening, "It's good."

The girl giggled again, then held out her free hand, "My name's Samantha! What's yours?"

"Mileyx." She answered, taking the girl's sticky hand and staring at it, "Now what?"

The girl shook it up and down a few times, then let go.

"And the point of that was… what?"

Samantha thought about it, then shrugged, "I dunno." She then smiled widely, "Hey, you wanna meet my Mommy?"

Mileyx thought about it, "If it is considered 'human interaction', then yes."

"Come on!" Samantha took Mileyx's hand and dragged her into the crowd, pulling her farther and farther away from the Nobodies.

* * *

"How could we loose her in five minutes?!" Xigbar shouted, kicking over a trashcan and stomping it into the ground, "This! Is! RIDICULOUS!"

"Xigbar, stop it!" Roxas hissed, glancing nervously at the people gathering to stare at them, "You're going to get us into trouble!"

"I think," Lexaeus said suddenly, also noticing the crowd, "That we had best change before we start looking."

Luxord nodded, lowering his head slightly, "Less conspicuous that way."

"Fine." Xigbar said, leaving the trashcan a flattened slip of aluminum. "Let's go, then."

They walked off, not seeing a small girl in a pink dress drag Mileyx past just twenty feet away.

* * *

"Samantha!" The woman shouted, glaring down at her daughter, "What have I told you about dragging people you don't know around?!"

Samantha smiled innocently, pointing to Mileyx, "Momma, this is Mileyx. She's lost and can't find her friends. Can we help her?"

The mother looked at the stranger suspiciously, eying her long black coat and extremely white skin wearily. "I don't think that's a good idea, sweetie…"

"I am sorry to have imposed." Mileyx said, bowing, "But I'm afraid I am new in town… I was separated from my friends and…" She lowered her head, "I don't… know what to do… without them… I feel so… empty…"

"Oh…" The mother said softly, reaching out and taking the lost girl by the arm, "Do they… help you with a lot of things?"

Mileyx nodded, "Yes. They tell me everything… I can't function properly without them…" She looked at the woman with wide eyes, "Where's Xigbar? And Xaldin? And Roxas? Lexaeus? Luxord? …Father?"

"You poor dear…" The woman muttered, pulling Mileyx inside, "Come on, you're staying with us tonight. We'll help you find your friends and you father tomorrow."

"Thank you." Mileyx followed the woman inside, the door shutting just as the five Nobodies walked down the street.

They glanced around for a bit, then gave up and headed down a different street.

* * *

_Day 4 of Mission: Human Interaction_

_53 hours and 4 minutes after departing from the castle_

_Subject: Living With Samantha and Sarah_

"Thank you, Sarah, but this is unnecessary." Mileyx said, looking at herself in the mirror, "This is the third pair of clothes you have given me."

"Don't be silly." Sarah said, kneeling and taking a sewing pin out of her mouth and sticking up a seam, "When I was your age, girls liked to own a lot of clothes. Besides, these are just some of my old things. Nothing fancy. Now, hold out your arm and bed your elbow at an angle."

Mileyx did, looking at herself in the mirror again. She had long since abandoned her Organization coat and pants since Sarah had insisted most fervently upon her wearing her old clothes. Currently, Sarah was 'taking in' the seams on a pair of faded 'bellbottoms', a white shirt and a long, formfitting blue cotton coat that tied across her chest with two simple pieces of woven blue string. Embroidered with white thread on the back of the coat was a complex series of Celtic knots that started strong at the top and faded gradually as they went down, ending in slight wisps. The sleeves of the coat belled out.

"There," Sarah said, standing and nodding, "Finished."

Mileyx, who wasn't able to tell if it looked 'good' or not but did know that it was bad to say so, nodded as well, "Yes, and it looks wonderful. Thank you, Sarah."

The woman smiled, "You're welcome."

"Momma!" Samantha ran into the room, latching herself into Sarah's leg, "Mr. Madok said that there are some men looking for someone who looks like Mileyx! Do you think…?"

Sarah nodded, "I do." She looked up at Mileyx and smiled, "I think we found your friends."

"I see." Mileyx started to take the jacket off.

"No, don't!" Sarah exclaimed, grabbing Mileyx's hands and smiling to her, "They're a gift. Those and the other clothes."

"Gift." Mileyx repeated, blinking.

Sarah, who had become accustomed to Mileyx's unusual lack of comprehension with seemingly common concepts, nodded and patted her on the back kindly, "A 'gift' is something you give someone when you're good friends. It's something you don't have to pay for and that you don't give back. Once someone gives you a gift, it's your forever."

Mileyx nodded, looking down at the clothes, "I see…" She looked up and frowned, "But I don't have anything to give you in return…"

"And that can be okay." Sarah said, nodding, "You don't have to give anything in return."

"Though, judging by the way you chose to word that, there are situations in which a return gift is expected." Mileyx said, frowning. The frown then faded and she nodded, "I will think up a suitable gift and deliver it before I must return home."

Sarah shook her head, smiling, "You don't have to, dear—"

Mileyx frowned, "But this is a situation in which it is expected, I believe. I will think of something."

Sighing, Sarah turned to Samantha and nodded, "Pack her things, sweetie, and we'll go."

* * *

"She's dead." Xigbar said, looking around pointlessly through the crowd, "She's been gone for four days and we haven't seen or heard of her. She's dead." He sighed, dropping his head into his hands, "Superior and Vexen are gonna be so pissed."

Xaldin shrugged, "Either that or thankful."

"We're going to find her." Roxas said determinedly, frowning, "We just have to keep searching."

"Actually, I think the search is over. Look."

The five Nobodies looked to where Lexaeus was pointing, their eyes widening when they saw Mileyx approaching with a woman and a child. The Heartless lifted her hand and waved, "Hello!"

* * *

"Those are your friends?" Sarah mumbled, looking at the four men and the boy suspiciously, "They look a bit… shady."

Mileyx blinked and looked at her, "But they're standing in the sun."

"Never mind." Sarah sighed, looking back to the group.

The man with the long ponytail and eye patch was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans with boots. There was a man next to him, a man with dreadlocks, who was wearing a muscle shirt and a pair of pants. The third, imposingly tall man was wearing a simple grey t-shirt and pants, and the fourth man, the most normal looking of them all, was wearing a semiformal suit, minus the tie. The boy was in the typical rebellious teen-type clothes.

Sarah frowned. Though they all looked mostly normal, it wasn't their clothes that were bothering her. It was their faces. All of them, and even the boy, had the faces of people who had seen a lot… and done a lot in retaliation.

When they were close enough, Mileyx reached out and clamped onto the arm of the man with the eye patch. "Master Xigbar!"

The man, Xigbar, looked down at her and sighed gruffly, "What did I tell you about calling us 'Master'?" He looked at Sarah and shrugged, "She's got this thing about titles."

Sarah nodded, smiling rigidly, "I know." And she did. For the first two days, Mileyx had insisted upon calling her 'Madame'. The strain in her smile disappeared when Mileyx turned and bowed to her.

"Thank you very much, Sarah. I swear to you, before I leave, I will find some way to repay you." Mileyx said, her face blank as always but something in her voice telling Sarah she was sincere.

"Don't worry about it, Mileyx." Sarah said, smiling, "Just… look out for yourself, alright?"

Mileyx nodded, "Alright." She looked down at Samantha, "Goodbye, Samantha."

"Hu-uh!" Samantha said, shaking her head and latching into Mileyx's leg, "It's not 'goodbye'! You're gonna come back and see us someday!"

"I am?" Mileyx blinked.

Samantha nodded, "That's an order!"

Mileyx and the Nobodies blinked, and the Nobodies stared at Mileyx as she went rigid and nodded, just as she had always done with Vexen. "It is understood."

Samantha smiled, "Good."

After Sarah and Samantha walked off, Mileyx picked up the bag they had left with her and turned to the Nobodies, nodding. "First four days of human interaction complete. Shall I give a full report?"

Xigbar shook his head, "Nah. Just lean in a bit." She blinked, but complied, at which point he cuffed her over the head, glaring down at her, "Never walk off without telling us again, alright?"

Mileyx nodded, grabbing her head, "It is understood. Owie…"

"Well, let's go." Roxas said, standing, "We'll drop your things off at the inn, then walk you around so you can interact some more."

On the way to the inn, Mileyx got distracted again.

"I'm gonna look at it…" She mumbled, walking off.

None of the Nobodies heard her, but they couldn't say she never told them…


	7. Human Interactions: Part II

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(Human Interactions: Part II)

_Day 4 of Mission: Human Interaction_

_55 hours and 27 minutes after departing from the castle_

_Subject: Bazaar_

Mileyx tapped the slim, hanging bars and listened to them tinkle against each other. "Pretty…"

"Interested in buying a wind charm?" She looked up into the face of a smiling face of a salesman, "That one in particular is one of the best ones here. Has the perfect pitch to make a perfect peal, and just look at those designs!"

She blinked and frowned as he tried to dazzle her, "Actually, the b-flat that the third bar attempts to attain is off. Three-quarters of a centimeter should be shaved off from the bottom for it to be 'perfect'. Also, that shade of red is the wrong kind for the red breasted hummingbird, which typically has more of a cyan than a lime hue."

The salesman stared at her, blinking at her back as she turned and started to poke another wind chime.

"…You know your music pretty well then, eh?"

Mileyx tilted her head, still looking at the chimes, and said, "I know sounds. I have advanced hearing abilities."

"…You want a job, then?"

She turned to him and blinked, "Excuse me?"

"A job." The salesman repeated, "Just for a few hours. I'll pay you well."

Mileyx blinked, "What does this 'job' entail? And would it count as 'human interaction'?"

* * *

"I can't believe we lost her again!" Xaldin shouted, throwing his arms into the air, "How far can this girl get in ten minutes?!"

"Far, apparently." Luxord said, eyes scanning the market, "Perhaps she went there…"

They all looked, Xigbar sighing, "We might as well try it."

"Yeah, and if you find a harness, buy it." Xaldin growled, stalking into the stands, "We're going to keep her on a short leash when we find her."

* * *

"And what do you want your wind chime to sound like?"

The woman tilted her head back, "Like… larks singing."

Mileyx nodded, "As you wish." She then turned to the chimes set before her and found the one closest to the sound of 'larks singing'. A few adjustments to the lengths of the metal bars with a file and a dab of silver polish later, she handed the wind chime to the woman, nodding, "Is this what you meant?"

The woman took the charm and waved it slightly, jumping and smiling at the twittering peals the bars made, "Exactly! Thank you!" She handed over her money and walked off, wind chime in hand.

The salesman walked up to the booth, looking at the fat wad of cash in his hand and smiling, "I think I'm going to upgrade your job."

Mileyx blinked, "Upgrade?"

* * *

"Damn, I'd thought we'd find something here." Xaldin grumbled, looking around the wind chime booth, "I coulda swore that I heard someone talking about seeing someone who matched her description over here…"

"There was." Luxord said, walking back over to the four, "She was here about an hour ago. The vendor gave her a job working on wind chimes, then recommended her to a nearby bar that needed a pianist. She's playing there now."

"A bar." Xigbar groaned, "Crap."

Luxord quirked a brow, "One would think you would relish the thought of being able to enter a bar."

"But this is the kid we're talking about." Xigbar said, shaking his head, "Just think of the trouble she could get into in a bar!"

The five Nobodies thought about it, their eyes widening.

"Let's go!" Roxas shouted, running off. The other four followed.

* * *

Mileyx looked down at the piano blankly, picking off a few notes. 'What am I expected to do with this?'

"Play something, already!" Someone shouted, inciting shouts of agreement from the other people in the bar.

She frowned, "As you wish." Lifting her hands, Mileyx ran them down the length of the piano, listening to each note that was played with each key. Ignoring the angry shouts from the listeners, she quickly organized the keys in her head, returning her hands to the middle of the piano and playing an upbeat, fast scale.

The angry shouts died and the bar fell silent, everyone listening as she repeated the scale several times before she stopped. Everything was silent.

"Keep playing!"

Mileyx nodded, wriggling her fingers and starting with a fast song.

* * *

The four Nobodies (minus Roxas, who was underage), walked into the bar, looking around.

"There." Lexaeus said, pointing to the back of the room where there was a raised platform.

They watched as Mileyx pounded away at the piano, playing a sporty song and raising the spirits of every person in the bar. Several groups of drunken men had made up nonsensical lyrics to the music and were singing along, unsurprisingly poorly. Several other groups were getting rowdy.

"We're getting her out of here," Xaldin muttered, glaring at a man who had bumped into him, "Now."

The man stumbled forward, spinning around and glaring up at Xaldin with bleary eyes. "You wanna fi' me, punk?" The man slurred, holding up his hands, "Sssshhhtick 'em uh'!"

Xaldin's glare intensified and he pushed the man aside, stalking towards the piano angrily. Xigbar, also angry, caught up with him quickly, Luxord following them nervously and Lexaeus bringing up the back.

At the piano, Mileyx turned away from the keys and tilted her head at the Nobodies, "Masters, there you are. I was wondering when you'd join me." When she got loud, angry requests, she placed her hands on the keys and stated playing, somehow keeping her head and eyes turned towards them.

"Mileyx, get down from there and let's go." Xaldin growled, his brow furrowing, "This place is too dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Mileyx asked, blinking, "Actually, I find it quite refreshing. The people here are so… lively."

"Do not question an order, Mileyx." Xigbar frowned, "Just get up and let's go."

She stood abruptly, body going rigid and bowing to Xigbar, "As you wish."

As she walked over to them, loud protests began to chorus around the bar.

"Hey! Get back on stage!"

"Crank the tunes!"

"Gat back to the piano, wench!"

Even as she was walking to stand by Xigbar's side, several people stood from their tables and surrounded the group.

The four Nobodies and the Heartless looked around.

"Well, what now?" Luxord whispered, taking a step back and bumping into Xaldin.

Xaldin scowled and glared at a man who had stepped too close, "I'd say we fight our way out of this place, but…"

"Superior would be furious with us." Xigbar finished, baring his teeth at the crowd.

"Who not simply intimidate them, then?" They turned and looked down at the Heartless, who shrugged, "It is my understanding that humans will back down to a simple display of brute force that is greater of their own, and that they are easier to impress when they are inebriated."

"So, a game of 'mine's bigger than yours', then?" Luxord asked, smirking, "Sounds sound." He glanced behind him, "Lexaeus?"

The burly Nobody stepped forward, holding out his hand.

The bar-goers stepped back cautiously, their eyes widening as a swirling orb of inky black opened up above the Nobody's hand, a red tomahawk appearing in his hand.

Lexaeus twirled his ax once, scowling down at the men. Behind him, a whirlwind of lances appeared around Xaldin, several cards shimmered and circled Luxord, and Xigbar's two guns flashed into his hands.

When one of the drunken men was still stupid enough to take a step towards Xigbar, Mileyx walked in front of him and held out her hands, "Freeze."

The man froze and his eyes grew wide, whites swirling around in a panic.

Mileyx flicked her wrist quickly, "Kneel."

The man fell to his knees, hands spread out in front of him.

"Speak." Mileyx concluded.

"Lemme go! For the love of God, let me go!" The man screamed, his muscles tensing and relaxing over and over as he struggled to free himself. "Gimme back my body! You can go, just STOP IT!"

Mileyx flicked her wrist again, taking a step back as the man fell to his side and gasped for air, his face red and his sides heaving.

Two men ran forward and grabbed the man from the floor by the arms, dragging him back into the crowd.

The heaving man looked at Mileyx with wild eyes, froth forming at the corners of his mouth. "FREAK! Y-y-y-you monster! MONSTER!!!"

Mileyx stared at him stoically, watching as he disappeared into the crowd.

A hand fell onto her shoulder heavily, Xigbar mumbling into her ear, "C'mon, kid. Let's go."

She turned quickly and followed the four Nobodies out of the bar, shutting the door behind them softly. Roxas ran to them, but didn't say anything in the face of the pressing silence that was upon the four adults and the Heartless.

Xaldin was quick to pick up her bags and lead them to the inn, Mileyx uncharacteristically silent.

The Nobodies might have asked her if she was alright… if they seriously thought anything was wrong. Even if they wouldn't have truly cared because of their natures, they still would have pretended to.

But… they didn't have to. Because Mileyx, who actually didn't have a real name, wouldn't feel anything about what the man in the bar had said. Even if she was, to some extent, experiencing what she thought were emotions, she didn't have the will or the common sense about emotions to actually to let something like that bother her… right?

Sure, she was quieter than usual, she had a far-off look in her eye, and she had a slight slump in her walk, but it wasn't anything serious, right? She was probably just tired…

'Yeah,' The five Nobodies simultaneously concluded, each glancing at the Heartless, 'She's just tired.'

Either unaware of their stares or choosing to ignore them, Mileyx stared ahead expressionlessly. When the Nobodies looked away, however, her eyes wandered slowly to her feet.

She inhaled, then let out an inaudible sigh.

* * *

"Alright." Xigbar said, shaking his head and leaning back in his seat, "I'll accept that as an explanation, though from now on make sure we actually know when and where you're going."

Mileyx bowed rigidly, "It is understood, Master Xigbar."

The Nobody scowled, "And what did I tell you about titles? Drop them."

"I am sorry, sir." She said, straightening, "I thought it only applied to when we were in public."

"No. It applies to anywhere, anytime, and under any circumstances until we're back at The Castle That Never Was."

Mileyx bowed again, "It is understood, Xigbar."

"Good." Xaldin said, rolling over in his bed and glaring at them, "Now that that's settled, can we get to sleep? It's late!"

Xigbar rolled his eyes, then his neck, waving a hand at the Heartless as it cracked loudly, "Go on. Get some sleep."

Mileyx nodded, sitting herself down in the armchair beside him and staring ahead.

"Still don't get why we couldn't have rented two rooms." Luxord growled, rolling onto his stomach.

"At least you got a bed!" Roxas exclaimed from the other end of the darkened room, "I'm stuck sleeping on a footrest!"

"A giant footrest, to be precise." Xigbar corrected, smirking, "You could almost fit two sets of Lexaeus's feet on that thing, so quit complaining." He paused, turning his head and looking at the space between Xaldin's bed and the wall, "Speaking of the giant, how are you doing, Lexaeus?"

"Cramped." The burly Nobody answered, Xaldin's bed moving as he rolled over.

"Sorry about that, big guy, but if they came in here and saw us sleeping six people to one two bed room, they'd kick us out." Xigbar said, though the smirk on his face showed he wasn't the least bit sorry.

"Hmmm…" Lexaeus grumbled, probably noticing the look on Xigbar's face.

The room was silent for a moment, the squeaking of Xaldin's bed as he sat up breaking the soundless spell.

"What did you learn today, anyway?" Xaldin asked, summoning a chorus of groans from the Nobodies in the room.

"Xaldin!"

"Shut Up!"

"Just go to sleep!"

"Honestly…"

"I learned that humans have no ear for music." Mileyx answered, frowning into the darkness, "And that they have odd taste in music when they're under the influence of alcohol." She paused, then looked in Xigbar's direction and asked, "What are 'lovely lady lumps'?"

The room was silent for a moment, then Xigbar shook his head and sighed, turning away from her, "Ask Marluxia when we get back to the castle."

Though he couldn't see her, Mileyx nodded. She then leaned back in her armchair and let the back clank down, changing to a horizontal position. After staring at the ceiling listlessly for two hours, her eyes abruptly shut and she fell into a mechanical sleep.

* * *

Through the walls of the thin hotel, they could hear the squeaking of bedsprings…

Their superior hearing allowed them to discern the sounds of rustling bed-sheets, of skin rubbing skin, of a disturbing, disgusting wet slap and smack…

Loud, satisfied moans near made the walls vibrate…

You'd have to be a complete idiot to not be able to tell what was going on in the room on the other side of the wall.

The five Nobodies and the Heartless stared at the ceiling, silent.

"Oh, YES!! Harder, FASTER!!"

Bedsprings groaned in protest, and the headboard slammed against the wall—

"GIVE IT A REST, ALREADY!" Xaldin roared, pounding his fist against the wall, "IT'S TWO IN THE MORNING! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!"

When the squeaking stopped, muffled cheers echoed through the walls of all of the rooms around them except for the room the squeaking and moaning had been coming from.

Xaldin grunted and flopped back down onto his bed, snoring in minutes.

Mileyx stared at the ceiling, blinking, "Where they having se—"

"MILEYX!"


	8. Human Interactions: Part Final

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(Human Interactions: Part Final)

_Day 7 of Mission: Human Interaction_

_169 hours and 44 minutes after departing from the castle_

_Subject: The Mall_

The four adult Nobodies and the Heartless looked around themselves in awe, shock, horror, disgust, and all sorts of other 'amazed'-type emotions that nearly flooded Mileyx's mind with their sudden, uninterrupted appearance and flow.

"This… this is…"

"A mall." Roxas said, crossing his arms and smirking at his companions, "So far, we've just been messing around by hanging out in the bazaar and all of those shopping streets, but this is the real deal. The highest form of human-on-human interaction. This is… the mall."

"The Twilight Mall, to be precise." A girl said, popping out from behind Roxas and giggling when the four adult Nobodies and the Heartless looked at her in shock, "Hi, I'm Olette. Roxas asked me to meet you here, so here I am!"

Roxas smirked and thumped the girl on the back of the head, "Guys, this is a friend of mine, Olette."

The girl looked back at him and rolled her eyes, "I already said that, genius!" Olette then turned back to face the Nobodies and walked up o Mileyx, tilting her head and looking up at her, "So, you're the one Roxas said needed help… cluing in on life?"

Mileyx blinked, "I am to learn how to be more… normal through human interactions."

"I see…" Olette nodded, smiling, "Well, no better way to learn to be a girl than through interactions with other girls, and the mall is one of the best places to do that!" Olette grabbed Mileyx's hand and started to pull her away, waving to Roxas, "You all meet us back at the food court in two hours! I'll keep a good eye on her!"

"Mileyx, don't do anything stupid!" Xigbar shouted after her.

Mileyx tried to respond, but Olette dragged her around a corner before she could.

* * *

"You sure about this one, Olette?" A teenage girl asked, leaning in and staring Mileyx in the eye, "She seems a bit… off."

Olette shook her head and pulled Mileyx back, nodding to her friends, "She's fine, guys. Let's just say she was extremely sheltered as a child, alright? She just wants to hang out with some normal girls for a bit."

Olette's group of friends whispered amongst themselves for a bit, then nodded to Olette.

"Fine." The girl from before said, "But we need to get her some new clothes first. That fashion ran out a few years ago."

Mileyx looked down at her clothes and blinked. She was wearing one of the outfits Sarah had given her; a long, flowing green skirt and a blue tank top with an embroidered silver star on it.

"It was a gift…" Mileyx said, her brow furrowing slightly.

"I never said it didn't look nice." The girl was quick to say, smiling kindly, "It's just… out of style. Besides," She looked Mileyx up and down, smirking crookedly, "It's not you."

Mileyx tilted her head, "Not… me?"

"Not your style." The girl said.

"The look doesn't fit you." Another girl from behind her piped.

"Too old-fashioned." Yet another said.

The first girl nodded, smiling, "You need a more… modern look. And you look like the kind of person who wears, what we call, the 'old citadel' look."

"Old… citadel?" The Heartless frowned, "What do castles have to do with clothes?"

The girl smirked, nodding to Olette.

"You'll see… you'll see."

* * *

"Are you sure?" Mileyx's voice asked from the other side of the door. "It isn't… exactly what I am accustomed to."

"Oh, I'm sure." The leader of the girls, Kendra, said, filing her nails, "But I promise, you'll look great. Now come on out."

For a moment, there was silence. Then, the door opened slowly and Mileyx stepped out, the group of girls nodded.

"Very nice."

They had put her in a formal-esk white dress shirt that buttoned up to her throat, a light, silvery grey vest over it. Her pants were loose and poofed out around her legs slightly, smooth grey material shimmering slightly before they disappeared into a pair of black boots that went up above her ankle three inches. Over it all, she wore a long white coat that had several columns of silver buttons down her chest and a belt of four bands of silver chains around her waist.

Mileyx looked down at herself in confusion, "And… how does this connect with a citadel?"

Kendra shrugged, "I dunno. It was just a cool name. Now, for the finishing touch." She took something out of a small box sitting beside her, walking up to Mileyx and clipping a silver chain choker around the throat and stepping back. "Finished!"

The girls 'ooed' and 'awwed', then walked over to the counter to pay for it all.

"Will this be satisfactory?" Mileyx put a huge wad of bills down on the counter, everyone looking at her in shock.

"Why didn't you tell us you were loaded?!" Kendra squealed, latching herself onto Mileyx's arm, "Amazing hair and eye coloring, easily trained, fit the coolest styles, old enough to get into a bar and rich… I love you!"

Mileyx blinked down at the girl, "Are you running a temperature?"

After the cashier had figured the money, Kendra snatched up the remaining cash and laughed, "We're going on a shopping spree!"

* * *

(Two Hours Later)

The five Nobodies stared with slack jaws as Mileyx and the group of girls she was with walked into the food court, loaded down with huge boxes and bags.

"What the hell is this?!" Xigbar exclaimed.

Roxas gapped at Olette, "I thought you were just taking her to hang out!"

Olette smiled apologetically and shrugged, "Well, 'hanging out' with Kendra almost always turns into a shopping spree."

There was a huge crash as the boxes Mileyx was holding fell to the ground, the Heartless stumbling over to a chair and falling down into it. Though her face was composed as ever, her breathing was labored and there was a strange rattling in her chest.

The Nobodies stared at her, then the boxes she had been carrying, Xaldin asking, "What's in those things?"

Mileyx shook her head, panting, "I believe Kendra called it an 'entertainment system'." She looked at the men and frowned, "Who is BluRay and is he related to Blue Tooth? Because if they are, I have several of their items…"

"That's it." Xigbar jumped to his feet and started grabbing what he could carry, frowning deeply and shaking his head, "Let's get the hell out of here."

"Good idea!" Kendra said, clapping her hands, "You boys take MyMy's stuff back to your hotel room and we'll take her out to have her hair and nails done!" She smiled to the five Nobodies and grabbed Mileyx's hand, dragging her out of the chair and out of the food court, "You guys are the best!"

The Nobodies watched silently as Mileyx was dragged away by the horde of girls, her pink hair gone before they could even think of protesting.

Roxas blinked, "Well, she's as good as dead."

* * *

"And I was like 'no', and he was like 'yes', and she was like 'no way', and my parents were like 'nuh-uh', and I was so totally p.."

"And you know what he forgot to do?"

"Buy the roses."

"Buy the roses; exactly. And I told her, 'Janice, you have to get out of there'."

"No way."

"Yes way!"

"No way!"

"Yes way!"

"NO way!"

"Yes WAY!"

"No. Way."

"_Yes_ way!"

"And I'm telling you, honey, you do it like that and he'll do anything for you."

"Hmm… I might just try that!"

"And would you believe it, two months and she's already pregnant!"

"I always knew she was loose!"

"Yeah, but not that loose!"

"Who woulda thought?"

"So, what's it like living with a bunch of hotties?"

Mileyx stared around herself with dazed eyes, barely able to take in everything she was hearing.

"Hey! MyMy!" She blinked and shook her head, turning to Kendra. The teenager shook her head, "What's it like living with a bunch of hotties?"

"Elaborate on the term 'hottie'." Mileyx said, frowning slightly.

Kendra rolled her head and smirked, "You know what I mean! Living with all of those gorgeous guys! Ollete tells me there are twelve of them! And one girl who really isn't worth mentioning, but the twelve hot guys! What's it like?!

Mileyx blinked, confused, "I am afraid I don't understand… how can you tell if a guy is 'gorgeous' or 'hot'?"

Kendra and her friends's jaws dropped, the leader gasping, "You have got to be kidding!"

"I am afraid I am not." Mileyx said, pursing her lips slightly.

"Alright." Kendra clapped her hands, "Crash course in hot men. That," She pointed to a poster on the wall of a man with flowing golden hair and impossibly blue eyes, "Is a hottie."

Mileyx blinked, "And what defines him as 'hot'?"

"His gorgeous blue eyes."

"His pouty lips."

"His lustrous hair."

"His muscled chest."

"His seductive smirk."

"His all around, prime cut, unrestrained, smokin' hot sex appeal!"

Mileyx blinked again, looking at the swooning girls, "Is this… what teenage females do on a regular basis?"

The girls swooned again and nodded, "Yeah…"

Frowning, Mileyx looked down at her hands and watched as the woman in front of her worked on her nails, shining and buffing them over and over again.

"Hey, Stacy!" Kendra called out, waving to a tall woman with strikingly blonde hair, "We need her hair done, too. You got time?"

"Sure." Stacy called back, "Just bring her over when you're done."

"All done, sweetie." The nail woman said, applying one last layer of gloss to Mileyx's nails, "Just let them sit for a bit."

Mileyx blinked and lifted her hands slowly, wriggling her fingers lazily and sniffing her nails, her nose wrinkling, "Ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, nitrocellulose, isopropyl alcohol, phthalic anhydride and trimellitic, anhydride and glycols copolymer, dibutyl phthalate styrene and acrylates copolymer, stearalkonium hectorite, stearalkonium bentonite, benzopherone-1, bismuth oxychloride, guanine, ferric ammonium ferrocyanide, titanium dioxide, mica, polythylene terephthalate, aluminum powder, and other assorted chemicals…" She looked at Kendra and frowned, "This mixture is highly chemical… how often do you do this?"

Kendra blinked, "Often enough… How did you know all of that stuff was in there?"

"I was raised in a lab." Mileyx said, standing, "I know the different smells of every chemical known to man, and even others beyond that." She frowned at the teen again, "You do realize that many of those chemicals are used in heavy-duty cleaners, right?"

Kendra shrugged, blowing on her nails, "But don't they look nice?"

Mileyx shook her head and sighed, "Teenagers are so frivolous."

"Whatever." Kendra jumped to her feet and pushed Mileyx along, setting her down in one of the swirly chairs in the back, "Teens will be teens, and MyMy will always be naive. Now, do her up, Stacy!" She smiled, stepping back.

"You got it." Mileyx's chair was spun around and the blonde woman knelt in front of her, smirking, "Interesting eyes… and hair." She picked up a pink lock and spun it around, biting her lip, "What to do, what to do…" Stacy then smiled, "Ah hah."

Mileyx blinked as she was spun around to face a huge mirror, Stacy leaning over her shoulder and smirking down at her.

"Don't worry; I'll take care of everything. Just close your eyes and prepare to be amazed."

The Heartless nodded slightly, closing her eyes and holding completely still. She drowned out the sound of snipping scissors and the fell of the sharp-toothed comb by listening to the talk around her, absorbing everything.

When the gossip of the salon got too boring, she extended her hearing to the two adjacent shops, then further, then further. Soon, she was listening to everything going on in her entire wing of the mall, focusing one conversation at a time and switching frequently.

It seemed like only seconds later that…

"Alright, open your eyes!"

Mileyx opened her eye slowly, looking at her reflection.

Her hair now went down to her shoulders in the back, the chunks of bangs that framed her face still their normal length, though trimmed even. The underside of her hair was now black, making the top layer look even pinker.

"The black's only temporary, just to give you an idea of what it would be like." Stacy said, smirking, "If you want it done permanently, think about it and come back and tell me."

Mileyx nodded, still staring at herself.

"Wow!"

Kendra and Olette stood on either side of her, both smiling down at her hair.

"It looks great!" Ollete exclaimed, brushing her hand against Mileyx's hair.

"Awesome! I am so jealous of yo—ow!" Kendra dropped the file she had been using and stuck her polished finger into her mouth, spitting it out a moment later. "Gah, it tastes terrible! Jeez, and it hurts!"

"What's wrong?!"

Kendra held out her finger and squeezed it, blood beading at the tip.

"Cut yourself on a nail filer?" Stacy asked, smirking and shaking her head, "Only you, Kendra…"

"Shut it!" Kendra snapped, a slight smirk on her face but pain in her eyes, "It seriously stings!"

Mileyx stared at the bloody finger silently, eyes focusing on the faint throb of the skin.

*Bum-Buum**Bum-Buum**Bum-Buum*

Kendra's pulse echoed through Mileyx's head and she twitched, vision blurring by a red tint taking over her eyes.

*Bum-Buum**Bum-Buum**Bum-Buum*

'Hea-rt… hea-rt… heart…'

*Bum-Buum*…*Bum-Buum*…*Bum-Buum*

The Heartless wanted to lunge a Kendra and rip the pulsing heart out of her chest, then feast on it and draw the pulsing into her own body. She wanted that heart…

*Bum-Buum*…*Bum-Buum*…*Bum-Buum*

_Mileyx?_

*Bum-Buum*…*Bum-Buum*…*Bum-Buum*

If she took the heart, would she be complete? Would she feel whole? Would Master and the others finally be happy with her?

*Bum-Buum*…*Bum-Buum*…*Bum-Buum*

_Mileyx? What's wrong? You squeamish?_

*Bum-Buum*……*Bum-Buum*……*Bum-Buum*

Ooooh… that pulsing was taunting her… teasing her… calling her to pull it out and drag it into her own body.

It wouldn't be that hard… All she had to do was reach out and—

"No."

Mileyx's eyes opened and she blinked, staring at the back of her hand as it clenched the fabric of Xigbar's shirt… right over where his heart would be.

"Mileyx."

She looked up at him, eyes widening.

Xigbar looked down at her tiredly, "Let's go. You need to rest."

The Heartless stood silently, walking past the staring eyes and keeping close to Xigbar as he led her to the portal he had opened in order to reach her in time. He stepped through, and she followed.


	9. Purpose

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(Purpose)

"Master Xigbar…" The Heartless moaned, rolling over on the bed, "Please… please untie me. I'll be good, I swear."

Luxord stroked his chin and sighed, looking over at Xigbar, who was sitting in his chair and staring out the window. "Is this really necessary? Tying her up like this?"

"She nearly reverted to her Heartless form," Xigbar said listlessly, closing his eyes, "That's something that cannot be allowed to happen. I'm doing what I have to."

"Master Xigbar, please…" She groaned, twisting her wrists in a vain attempt to free her hands, "I didn't do anything, Master Xigbar… Why? Why are you doing this to me?"

Sighing, Xaldin threw himself into the chair beside Xigbar's and frowned, "How bad was it?"

Xigbar shook his head, eyes still closed, "She didn't realize I was there until I stepped between her and the girl. She tried to rip out my heart, but woke up just seconds after touching my chest. Had I not woken her, she probably would have truly tried."

"Master Xigbar…"

"I already talked to Olette." Roxas said, wincing when the Heartless cried out again, "I told her that she really needed to take some medication, and it was easy enough for them to accept the portal thing. They aren't completely naïve when it comes to magic."

"Please, Master Xigbar, it hurts…" The Heartless cried, rolling over to face them, "Untie me, please."

"You tried to kill someone today." Xigbar said suddenly, his eye still not opening, "You're a danger to everyone around you, and until I am sure that the lust has died in you, you'll stay like that."

"Just one heart…"

All eyes turned on her and Xigbar finally opened his, Lexaeus asking, "What?"

"Just one heart." The Heartless whimpered, "That's all I want. Just one. I'll be better if I just have one heart, I promise. One heart and you won't have to worry about me for the rest of the trip."

"No." Xigbar said harshly, standing and stalking over to her. Reaching out, he flipped her onto her back and glared down at her, "No hearts."

"But it hurts…" She mumbled, curling up into a ball, "It hurts everywhere… I don't want to hurt… I need a heart…"

"What you need to do is get over it, because you're not getting one." The sharpshooter growled, stepping back.

The Heartless curled into a tighter ball and started heaving slightly, "Make it stop, Master Xigbar. Please, make it stop…"

"Just go to sleep…" Roxas muttered, staring at her blankly, "Just go to sleep and it'll all be over faster."

The Heartless screamed and arched her back, legs twisting and clenching against each other painfully.

"Can't we do something?!" Luxord hissed, his teeth grinding, "There has to be something we can giv—"

"Unless you want to go out and hunt down a heart for her, there's nothing." Xaldin said, his eyes closed and his arms crossed, "And if you do go out and get one, keep in mind that you'll have to face severe consequences from Superior."

The Nobodies fell silent, each turning away when the Heartless screamed again.

"That's it." Luxord walked over to her and placed a hand on her head, mumbling, "Sleep."

The Heartless squirmed a bit more, then relaxed abruptly, her eyes closing and her body slumping heavily onto the bed.

The Nobodies sighed in relief as the cries died, the room silent.

"It'll stop soon." Lexaeus said, shaking his head, "Once the urge passes, it'll stop and she'll calm down."

"I hope so." Roxas mumbled, shaking his head, "I'm not sure if I could listen to that much longer…"

"Master…"

"Agh," Xigbar grabbed his head and groaned, "Not again…"

"Please… please Master… don't…."

The five Nobodies looked at her, watching as her eyes flickered back and forth rapidly beneath her eyelids.

"Seeing as she hasn't attached a name, I'm assuming she means Vexen?" Luxord mumbled, leaning back against the wall.

"Presumably…" Xaldin muttered back, frowning.

The Heartless groaned and jerked her head to the side, "No… Please Master, don't do it… it hurts… Please don't use it…"

They watched her silently, unable to imagine Vexen talking at the other end of the conversation. What was she talking about?...

"Master!" Her body jerked and she shook her head, "Please… not the needles… anything but the needles… please… I promise I'll do better!... I'll try harder to fi—" She screamed, twisting onto her side and pulling her legs up to her chest, "No! I don't want to! Don't make me do it! …Master? …Master?! …VEXEN!!!!!"

Luxord jumped forward and held her down as she started writhing, pressing his hand against her forehead and holding it there as she thrashed and screamed. A black aura flashed around his hand and the Heartless went limp again, this time her body completely flaccid. The man stepped back, shaking his head.

"That should keep her unconscious for a few hours… and it'll keep her mind completely blank." He looked at his companions and frowned, "What exactly did Vexen do to her before he released her?"

The Nobodies where silent, each managing to think of several painful procedures the scientist would have been able to perform on his experiment, each more horrendous than the last.

"You think that's another reason he made her so passive?" Roxas muttered, staring at her with wide eyes, "So he could… perform painful experiments on her without her really able to fight back?"

"Possibly." Lexaeus replied, frowning, "Thought it could have just been an added bonus."

They were silent again, watching the tormented Heartless as she breathed in and out slowly and laboriously, a slight frown on her face.

Xaldin shifted after a moment, frowning, "What are we trying to do here? Because so far, I haven't noticed a change in her at all. Is she just here to learn… or to apply?"

"One would think both." Sighed Luxord, "Though I hardly see any application on her behalf… She just seems to be retaining information, yet also seems unable to sort it out."

Xigbar looked at her and furrowed his brow, "Did Vexen agree to this just to change her mentality… or was there something else to it?"

They thought about this, the sun outside falling on the horizon and turning the sky red-orange.

"It's best to save this for a later time." Lexaeus grumbled, shaking his head, "It's getting late."

The Nobodies began to order themselves around the room, Xaldin taking the Heartless's chair and Lexaeus shoving Roxas into the crack beside the bed so he could sleep in the middle of the floor.

* * *

The Heartless shot into a sitting position and stared ahead of her, motionless, as if trying to listen to something. She stared into the dark blankly for a moment, then stood abruptly, taking a step away from the bed. Leaning her head back and closing her eyes, she moved her hands around to get a feel of were the bindings were.

'Thin, ¾ inch rope fastened approximately two inches below my elbows… meant to bind, but cause less discomfort than if tied at the wrists. …Also easier to escape from.' She opened her eyes and blinked, 'You made this surprisingly easy, Master Xigbar… you must not have been thinking clearly.'

Mileyx closed her eyes and breathed out, pursing her lips and readjusting her shoulder blades. She jerked up sharply on the right side, the loud crack that ensued making the five Nobodies in the room turn in their sleep.

After waiting until they had settled back down, Mileyx eased her arms out of the rope and let them fall slack at her side, grabbing her right shoulder with her left hand and popping the joint back into place.

At the second loud crack, the Nobodies woke up, Luxord looking at Mileyx and mumbling blearily, "Wha…"

"Sorry." She muttered, straightening her clothes out and waving her hand in front of her, summoning a black portal, "It's nothing. Go back to sleep; I'll be back soon." She stepped through, leaving the Nobodies staring after her in shock.

"…We're in trouble." Said Xaldin.

* * *

Mileyx stepped out of the portal and looked around Vexen's laboratory, frowning when he wasn't there.

"Where are you?..."

Not wasting another moment, Mileyx ran out the door and around the circular walk, beginning her search through the many halls of The Castle That Never Was.

'Where… where… WHERE?!'

_She had been awoken by instinct… Instinct designed into her being by Vexen. She didn't know where he was, what he was doing, or what physical or mental condition he was in, but she did know one thing…_

Upon passing one large arch in particular, she balked and came to a sudden stop. The feeling had dimmed when she had passed the arch. She doubled back.

_One indisputable thing… one thing that stood out in her mind above all else. It was this thing that mattered to her most… this thing that gave her purpose… This thing she had been bred to prevent._

She ran across the open floor, aware of only one thing in front of her… the man on the ground and the man standing over him, preparing to strike him. The Heartless dove…

_She knew her Master was in danger._

Mileyx shielded the blow from Xemnas that had been meant for Vexen, standing with her back turned to the blow from Xemnas's blade in order to increase the surface area that her body provided as a shield. She looked down at Vexen, ignoring the pain in her back.

Vexen stared up at her in shock… unable to believe and almost fearing what he saw on her face.

"Hello, Master."

Mileyx smiled at him; a genuine smile.

"You…" She heard Xemnas mutter.

"Master Xemnas…" Mileyx said, a rivet of blood running from her mouth as she spoke, "I will not pretend to know why you are mad at Master, but I must request that you lower your blade and not strike him, least I have to stand in your way."

The room was deathly silent.

Then, the blade was removed from her back and Mileyx fell to the ground, coughing as Xemnas turned on his heel and walked away.

"I trust you have learned your lesson, Vexen." The silver haired man shouted, "I'd hate for your puppet have to be injured again on your behalf." A door slammed.

Mileyx curled into a ball and hugged herself, glancing up at the still kneeling Vexen and smiling again, "Are you alright, Master?"

Vexen stared at her, his shock fading until his gaze became listless. "You… came."

"Of course, Master." Mileyx said, coughing, "I was born to protect you, remember? It's what you designed me for." She started coughing again, choking on her own blood.

"You need medical attention, and immediately." Vexen said, standing and looking down at her, "A simple 'Curaga' spell won't do… you'll need surgery to assure complete recovery."

"I understand." Mileyx said, bracing her hands against the ground.

"Don't."

She stopped, looking up at him. All she saw, though, was the black of his jacket as he knelt over her. Then, she was lifted off of the ground, in Vexen's arms. "Master?"

"You're in no condition to be walking on your own." Vexen said evenly, turning on his heel and walking back to the arch, "I'll have to take you back to the lab, myself." He sighed and glared down at her, "You seem to do nothing but cause trouble."

"I apologize profusely, Master." Mileyx said, "Next time, I shall think of a less hazardous way to stave a blow such as that."

Vexen stopped and stared down at her, his face blank. He then leaned in quickly, pressing his mouth against hers roughly, awkwardly, before pulling back and staring down at her with the same blank face.

"I hate you, girl."

She blinked, "They named me Mileyx."

"I hate you, Mileyx."

Mileyx blinked again, "I don't understand…"

Vexen stared at her a moment longer, then scowled deeply and continued walking, his face now focused straight ahead.

In the lab, Vexen dropped her roughly onto a table, ignoring her small scream and flipping her onto her stomach. He took out a large pair of medical scissors and looked down at her clothes, frowning.

"Do you like your clothes like this?"

"I do." Mileyx hissed, clenching her eyes shut against the stinging pain.

"Then I'll send out an order for a new wardrobe." He then started trimming away at the clothes, removing the entire upper back before he put the scissors down and took out a large needle and some medical thread. "Just close your eyes and go to sleep. There's no time for anesthesia; you've already lost too much blood."

"Yes, Master." Mileyx closed her eyes and went to sleep, forcing herself to stay just beneath REM, even though she could feel the pain spreading through her back like fire.

"Mileyx."

She opened her eyes, blinking when she found herself flipped back onto her back and staring up at Vexen.

He frowned down at her, "What happened tonight never happened."

Mileyx blinked, "Please elaborate, Master."

"From two hours before you went to sleep to now. None of it ever happened." Vexen said, "Your night progressed smoothly, you went to sleep, you received a summons to return to the Castle and you did. Nothing else. Your education in the human world is done." He paused and stared at her critically, "Do you understand?"

"I am working on wiping my memory as we speak." Mileyx said, her voice flat and her eyes empty. She was silent for a moment, then her eyes closed.

Vexen blinked, "Mileyx?" When she didn't answer, he shook his head and picked her up, carrying her to her cot and laying her down on it. He backed away and stared at her for a moment, "…I designed you too well… You obey orders too well…Sometimes I wish you didn't do exactly what I say… that you were a bit more defiant… You're my one experiment… that actually turned out perfectly… and I hate you for it."

Mileyx was silent, too deep into sleep to even stir.

Vexen stared at her for a moment longer, then turned off the lights and went to sleep.


	10. The Game Begins

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(The Game Begins)

"WHAT IN THE HELL IS ALL OF THIS?!" Xemnas roared, looking at the piles of boxes and bags with his arms stretched dramatically in front of him and his eye twitching.

"I learned the meaning of 'shopping spree' yesterday." The Heartless answered calmly, facing the angry Superior, "Apparently, it is a form of entertainment engaged in largely by younger females where they spend ridiculous amounts of money on items they probably won't use often enough to merit the purchase to begin with."

The thirteen Nobodies stared at the mountains of purchases with wide eyes, Axel eventually asking, "Where did you get all of the money for this?"

She blinked, "I got a job. Apparently, the humans think I am 'musically inclined'. …That, and they were inebriated."

The Nobodies who had remained at the Castle frowned, Vexen about to say something when an odd whining noise came from the pile of boxes.

"…What the hell was that?" Larxene asked, watching the Heartless as she climbed over several boxes and bent down, picking something up and holding it out for everyone to see.

All of the Nobodies would have had heart attacks… had they had hearts.

In the Heartless's hands was a small ball of white fur with shining blue eyes that were silently focused on the Nobodies. It had a single strip of black fur that started at the tip of its small, black nose and ran between its eyes, arching over its head before it disappeared from the Nobodies' sight.

"His name is 'Neuter'." The Heartless said, "The proprietor of the pet shop called him a 'Siberian Cat', though technically he is still a kitten."

"…Who let you buy a cat?" Xemnas asked slowly, turning to glare at Xigbar, Xaldin, Lexaeus, Luxord and Roxas.

"Sooo not our fault!" Roxas said, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender, "I had no idea Olette would take her to a pet shop."

"Regardless of whose fault it is," Vexen growled, stepping forward and holding out a hand to grab the kitten, "It will not be staying. It is going ba—aaak!"

As soon as Vexen's hand was in reach, Neuter's paws shot out and grabbed on to the man's pointer finger, jerking his small fuzzy body out of the Heartless's hands and dangling in the air, clinging to Vexen's finger. The kitten then proceeded to chew on said gloved finger.

"Awwww!" Larxene cooed, an evil smirk on her face, "It already knows who Grandpa is!"

Vexen scowled and began to shake his hand, vainly trying to knock the offending ball of fuzz off. He gave up, though, when Neuter stayed right were he was and continued to chew, seemingly unfazed by the trip he had just gone through.

"Neuter, no." The Heartless said, reaching out and pulling the kitten off of her creator's finger, "Master is not a chew toy. This is." She bent and picked up a ball of black yarn, shoving it into the cat's face and bowing to her master when the cat was thoroughly occupied. "I cry your pardon on Neuter's behalf, Master; he is still young."

"Vexen." The scientist turned to Xigbar, who shrugged, "Why not let her keep it? At least she'll be occupied and out of your hair." The Freeshooter shot Xemnas a look, "Out of all of our hairs."

The two men considered this for a moment, nodding to each other.

"Fine." Vexen said, turning to the Heartless and nodding, "You will be allowed to keep the cat, under the conditions that you keep it under control and it does not become a problem for the rest of us."

The Heartless stiffened and bowed mechanically, "As you wish, Master." She paused, looking up at Vexen and blinking, "Am I… to keep my name as well, Master? Or am I to go back to my previous designation of 'Heartless'?"

"Neither would be appropriate, seeing as 'Mileyx' would be considered a Nobody designation, which you are not, and 'Heartless' is far too generic." Vexen took a breath, his brows creasing, "Your species designation will be… Virva."

"It is understood." Virva said with yet another mechanical bow. She then turned to her mountainous pile of belongings, shoving Neuter into a pocket on her Organization XIII coat (newly borrowed from Vexen's stash) and picked up as many boxes and bags as she could carry, turning to Vexen, "Master, what am I to do with my belongings?"

Vexen looked at the pile, a frown crossing is face, "I suppose we'll just have to set you up with your own room… There is no way I am letting all of that into my lab." He turned to Xemnas and quirked a brow, "Perhaps there is an empty room in the bowels of the castle near the rest of the Heartless?"

Sighing, Xemnas pinched the bridge of his nose and threw Virva a dismissive wave, a black void opening near her feet and several Shadows pouring out. "These will assist you in both locating a suitable space and moving your things. Please, make it quick and clear up the hall."

Virva looked down at the Shadow Heartless, blinking and tilting her head. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth, "."

The Nobodies watched in shock as the Shadows looked up at Virva, their heads tilting and their antenna twitching.

After a few minutes of the twitching, Virva nodded and opened her mouth again, "."

More antenna twitching, then a liquid black portal opened beneath the stack of items and slowly swallowed them whole, the Shadow Heartless sinking with them.

When the boxes were gone but the portal remained, Virva turned to Vexen and blinked, "Will that be all, Master?"

The scientist blinked, "It will… Report to my lab in two hours. I think it's about time you began to fulfill your secondary purpose."

Nodding, the Heartless stepped into the portal and stood still, closing her eyes as she followed her brethren down into the inky abyss.

The Nobodies stared at the portal until it had disappeared, then at the spot where it had been for several moments after.

Finally, Axel remarked, "Well, at least she has a whole bunch of shit to keep herself occupied with."

* * *

In the deepest reaches of the castle, the Shadows showed Virva to a small, unoccupied room in a corner forgotten to the castles more humanoid occupants and known only to the lowest of Heartless. Like every other room in the castle, the walls were white, only a darker white; the kind of white clouds turn when they are in the earlier stages of being pregnant with rain.

Most of her brethren left her when all of her things were fully through the portal, but several stayed and helped her move things around, pushing heavier things to where she directed and separating everything into neat, organized piles.

Virva was quickly accustomed to speaking to her brethren, for though they were far less intelligent than she and incapable of speech, they did know the language of the shadows and obeyed anyone who spoke it fluently, like she did.

She knew the language by instinct, having been designed by Vexen to be a Heartless. Though the Nobodies controlled the Heartless and were, in a sense, Heartless themselves, they were far more sophisticated than any other strain of Heartless and thus above the need to know the language of the shadows; the lesser Heartless just instinctively knew to obey the orders of a Nobody.

Virva knew that, though she did resemble a Nobody in the fact that she was humanoid, she was nothing more than a Heartless; the previous her (if there had even been one) had been too weak in will to be able to cross the threshold into becoming a Nobody.

But, because she was a higher end Heartless and was able to verbalize the language of the shadows, she was able to suggest strongly enough to several Shadows her need for help, and they had no choice but to oblige.

Once the larger items had been moved to where she wanted them, Virva flicked her wrist and opened her mouth, "."

The Shadows twitched their antenna, then left.

Alone, Virva began to assemble and move several other items into their places, taking Neuter out of her pocket when she was done and setting the kitten on the ground.

"You have free reign of this room, Neuter, though I strongly advise against leaving it; should anyone stronger than me find you, I'm afraid I would be able to do little to save you."

The kitten just looked up at her and yawned, small pink mouth opening wide then closing.

She shrugged, "Just a suggestion." Virva then spun in a slow circle, blinking, "Does it look… normal enough?"

Neuter stood and made his slow way to the black futon in the corner, reaching up and pawing at the mattress. When he was unable to get up, he turned to Virva and mewled pathetically.

Virva, though, was oblivious to the kitten's plight. "I should report to Master soon." She opened a portal and stepped though, leaving Neuter to stare after her.

The kitten stared at where she had disappeared to, blinking slowly. He then turned to his food bowl (empty), his water bowel (empty), his litter box (still sealed in plastic), his kitten food (sitting on a high shelf), his toys (beside the food), and, finally, the bed (still too tall).

Neuter looked at where Virva had been. "Mew?"

* * *

In Vexen's lab, Virva sat on the surface of a metal table and watched her master as he moved around the lab, gathering vials and syringes that were either empty and sterilized or sealed and filled with oddly colored liquids.

"Virva, I am going to quickly explain what this process will entail, for in the case that I am unable to continue to perform this experiment I want you to continue it for me." Vexen paused, glancing at her, "Is that clear?"

She nodded, "It is understood, Master."

Vexen grunted, laying out several items before him and pointing to them. "The vials are filled with DNA samples from several species of Heartless, ranging from the weakest to the strongest. The syringe and needle are for extracting your own samples, which I will do now."

Quickly and deftly, Vexen picked up the needle and stuck it into Virva's arm, attaching the syringe and drawing several CCs of lime green blood before he was satisfied.

"Now, then," He set down the syringe and holding up a beaker full of a thick, white mixture, "This is filled with artificially constructed eggs. We will inject them with your DNA, allow them to settle, then isolate one and inject the DNA from a Heartless…"

* * *

_Just outside of the Lab at that moment_

"Holy shit… I told you that guy was crazy!"

"He's seriously going to use her to breed more Heartless?!"

"Is that even possible?! I mean, come on, aren't Heartless supposed to be the darkness in a person's heart?"

"No shit, Sherlock."

"You know what I mean! Besides, we're all wondering the same thing: Is this possible?!"

"If Vexen thinks it is," The spying Nobodies jumped and turned to face Xemnas, who was glaring down at them, "Then it probably is possible. Now, get back to your own business. Marluxia! I want you on your way to Castle Oblivion… the show is about to begin."

* * *

"Virva."

The Heartless looked up from her work, rubbing her stinging eyes tiredly. She and Vexen had worked through the night and had, thus far, successfully started three new strains of Heartless on their four month long incubating period. Now, she was disposing of the remains and organizing what was left.

"Yes, Master?" She asked, setting down the beaker of blood she had been refilling.

He nodded to her, "Pack your things; we're relocating."

"Yes, Master."

As she began to pack beakers and other supplies, Vexen joined her and said, "Xemnas wants several of us to move to a location called 'Castle Oblivion'. You'll want to pack only the necessities… and your cat." He scowled at this, "The Superior doesn't want it left here."

Virva finished packing the things in front of her then backed away, bowing and opening a portal beneath her feet, "It is understood, Master."

In her room, Virva quickly grabbed one of the unpacked shopping bags that Kendra had filled for her at a clothes store. She dropped it, though, upon the outfit laid out on her bed; an exact replica of what Kendra had put together for her back at Twilight Mall.

Divesting herself of the Organization robes she had borrowed from Vexen, Virva pulled on the familiar clothes. She then grabbed the robes, a box filled with kitten care items, and Neuter, teleporting to the front of the castle.

"Oh, great, _you're_ coming?" A snide voice asked, to which Virva turned and bowed.

"Good evening, Mistress Larxene. To answer your question, yes, it has been deemed by my Master that it was necessary for me to come."

Larxene scowled, "Don't get smart with me!"

"Larxene," Vexen cut in with a drawling, bored tone, "Is it absolutely necessary for you to argue with a will-less, emotionless lesser of a Heartless? You're not cutting _her_ character in the least; only your own."

The woman sniffed, but turned away and fell silent.

Taking a moment, Virva looked around at the other members of the Organization who were joining the party: Marluxia, Larxene, Axel, Lexaeus, Zexion, and, of course, Vexen.

Xemnas came to see them off.

"Remember your objectives and report frequently. Failure is not an option. And Vexen," He glanced at Virva, "Your Heartless may find some of this research beneficial to expanding upon her talents. I expect improvement on her control."

Vexen nodded stiffly.

A large black portal of inky nothing opened beneath the group and they sank through, traveling quickly through the coldest reaches of black before rising again to emerge before a twisted, contorted castle.

Marluxia stepped forward, smirking and spreading his arms, "Welcome to the new base of operations."


	11. A Slight Change

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(A Slight Change)

"Hey, V, how ya doin'?"

Not looking up from the fetus she was observing, Virva blandly responded, "I am assuming, Master Axel, that your presence means you are in need of assistance with something?"

"Naw!" Axel crooned, leaning against the table and looking at the tall glass tube in front of her, "What makes you say that? …What is that?"

Virva looked down at the clipboard in her hands, "One of my children." Axel grimaced at this, "Master Axel, you never come to 'visit' me, and you always need something when you take that tone."

"Alright, alright, you got me. Seriously, though, it's just a small favor. …What did you cross it with?" He asked, referencing to the embryo in the tube.

"An Invisible." She answered, "What is it you need?"

"I need you to challenge an insurgent to the castle to a small spar. I want to check his skill level thus far. …How did you manage to breed Heartless?"

"A Heartless is the shadow of a person's heart," She began, flipping through her notes, "Yet if a person's heart is dark enough, it turns out more than just the darkness comes out in the separation of body and heart; it is possible for samples of DNA to follow through. Such as in the case of Master Xemnas when he was previously the Heartless Ansem, and such as the case with any of the other more powerful Heartless, like the Invisible. It only works with the pureblood Heartless, though. Emblem Heartless are utterly useless." She looked at Axel, "Where is this person you would like me to challenge?"

Axel grinned, "The junction between the fifth and sixth floor. Thanks." He then vanished.

She stared after him for a moment, then made a few last notes on her clipboard, took a syringe full of a viscous green liquid and emptied it into the tube with the embryo, and opened a shadow portal and stepped through.

Just as she emerged into the long, white hallway, the door in front of her opened and three people walked through; a young boy, a duck and a dog.

"Come on, Goofy! We're not forgetting fast enough!" The duck was squawking in an odd voice, "Let's— Hey!"

The trio stopped, staring at Virva. She silently stared back.

The boy's hand flew to a chain at his waist, fingers rubbing uneasily against several key chains there. "Who're you? …Are you a friend of Axel?"

She blinked taking a moment to think about what to say, "I am Virva. I was sent to check your progress. You and I must duel."

The boy's hand immediately clamped onto one of the key chains, legs bending as he lowered himself into a battle stance. Virva watched blankly as a large key-shaped sword formed in his hands.

When the dog and the duck also tensed, she blinked at them. "I was not ordered to check your progress. Please stand back and wait for the duel to finish.

"No!" The duck squawked.

"We're not gonna let Sora fight on his own 'cause friends fight together!" The dog finished.

"I am assuming you are worried for your friend's wellbeing, but I assure you that there is no need." Virva said blankly, "My orders were test, not kill. If you insist upon interfering, though, I will have no choice but to detain you until the duel is complete."

"Waaaak!!" The duck screeched, waving his staff.

Blinking, Virva stepped out of the way of a bolt of lightning and flicked her wrist at the duck and dog. "Desist." When both of the creatures' limbs snapped sharply to her sides, she quickly lifted one index finger and pointed to the wall behind them, "Stand back."

As they did, the dog struggled and cried, "Sora!"

Sora turned to his friends, "Donald! Goofy!" He then spun back to Virva and glared at her, "Let them go!"

"I will, when our spar is complete." She nodded her head, "We begin when your are ready."

The boy was shaking violently by this time, and he ran forward screaming, holding his key high.

Not expecting him to be as quick as he was, Virva was unable to step out of the way of the first blow and, because of this, took a harsh hit to her hip. Fortunately, the bladed part was turned away from her so she was attacked by the dull edge, but she still heard and felt and unpleasant snap as her hip joint was jostled around.

Instincts for battle kicking in, Virva let herself melt into a puddle onto the floor, squirming underneath the boy's feet and reforming behind him, her arms wrapping around him and grabbing his.

"Yo-you're not human!" Sora exclaimed, thrashing in an attempt to get himself free.

"No, I am not." Virva replied blandly to the accusation, reaching out and grabbing the key. "Freeze."

When she felt the boy jerk to a halt beneath her, Virva removed the giant key from his hand and walked in front of it, staring at it with a blank expression as it burned her hands.

She knew the weapon's identity by instinct, and as thin tendrils of black smoke rose from her scalding palm she turned to Sora and blinked, "This is the Keyblade… and you must be the Keyblade Master."

"So what if I am!?" Sora shouted, struggling, "Give it back!"

On cue, the keyblade disintegrated from Virva's hands and reappeared in Sora's, though he was still frozen and unable to use it.

Virva looked at her hand, staring blankly at the melted skin and the greenish oozing blood that bubbled up.

"You're a Heartless!" Sora spat, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"That I am." She looked up from her palm and to him, "Tell me, Keyblade Master, are you going to escape or not? Our duel is not yet complete."

Sora blinked, staring at her and frowning, "I can—"

"I was under the impression," She cut in, "That the Keyblade Master was supposed to be strong-willed." The room was silent, and she blinked, "My abilities are based on the strength of a persons will, Keyblade Master. All you need to do is momentarily have a will that is stronger than my bonds and you will be free."

Sora and his friends blinked, but the boy appeared to have heeded her advice for just seconds later he was moving. His mouth opened to question her, but Virva dove at him with her hands raised, forcing him to step back and swing.

They battled for several minutes, but Sora triumphed because of the Heartless revealing her strategy.

Kneeling in front of the boy, Virva looked up at him listlessly, "Well, Keyblade Master, deliver the final blow."

Sora shook his head, opening his hand and letting the keyblade vanish. "Why did you tell me that? How to beat you?"

"I don't know."

In all honesty, she didn't. Her being a Heartless and he the Keyblade Master, one of the possessors of the purest of hearts, she should have been drawn into doing whatever was possible to obtain his heart. And she did, indeed, feel an intense urge to drive her fingers into his chest and rip his still beating heart out to feast upon, but for some odd reason another urge overpowered even that, her most basic of instincts.

After remaining silent for a moment, Virva stood and pulled a card out of her pocket. It had been one of the few that Vexen had given her for her protection, but she had never used it. It was blank, waiting for her to impress whatever ability on it she wished.

Tapping the card to her forehead, Virva watched as a picture of herself formed on it, framed in grey. When the enemy card was complete, she handed it to Sora. "This card has the effect 'Easy Break', which will allow you to control an enemy into using weaker cards so that you can disrupt their attacks and sleights more easily. It only works for three reloads, though, so be mindful of the time between activation and expiration."

Sora took the card hesitantly, staring up at her with suspicion and confusion on his face. "Why are you doing this?"

Virva frowned, shocking even herself when she broke her stoic and sighed out of annoyance. "I don't know, alright?!" Then, as abruptly as the sincere emotion and bloomed into her life, it died again and she returned to being deadpanned. "I must return to my Master, now."

When she had melted into the floor, Donald and Goofy were released from their mental binds and the trio watched as the last tendrils of darkness evaporated.

"Was she the enemy?" Donald asked after a moment in his odd warble, "Or a friend?"

"I dunno," Sora answered, looking at the enemy card, "But she kinda seems to be on our side."

* * *

In the lab, a corridor of darkness opened on the floor and Virva rose out of it slowly, falling to the ground and retching when she was completely through.

In that brief instance when she had been annoyed at Sora, she had suddenly felt… alive. It had faded in a moment, though, and left her feeling nauseated and unclean.

What little she had in her stomach, mostly pepsin acids and bile, ran out of her mouth and slicked a small spot on the floor, burning her throat and making her eyes water.

When she was sitting back up, the Heartless contemplated what had happened on the fifth-sixth floor junction. She had felt annoyed… but 'annoyance' was a stem of the main branch of emotions, wasn't it? So she couldn't have felt it.

'But… it felt so real…' Not that she would know what 'real' emotions felt like, she decided immediately after thinking this. She was a Heartless; she no longer knew anything of emotions, if there had ever been a time in which she had felt them, at all.

"Virva!"

Wiping her mouth, the Heartless jumped to her feet and turned on the spot, bowing to Vexen as he stormed into the lab. "Master?"

Vexen's eyes locked on her, glaring as he looked her up and down, "Where have you been, girl?! I was—" He cut off upon seeing her hand, which was caked thickly with her congealed and burnt blood. "What happened?!"

"I met the Keyblade Master." She replied, holding out her hand so he could inspect it. "I was burnt by the blade."

"You touched it?" Vexen hissed, shaking his head and dragging her by her arm over to a nearby work table. "Stupid girl."

She sat and watched him as he took out a scalpel and a bottle of antiseptic, with which he set about scraping off the damaged layer of burnt skin. "…Maser, what is the Keyblade Master doing here?"

"Marluxia." The scientist spat, pouring some of the antiseptic on her freshly bleeding wound, "He lured the boy here under the guise of 'experimenting with memories' or some rubbish like that. Now, tell me what you were doing so near the keyblade that you were burned by it."

"Master Axel asked me to spar with Sora. He wanted me to measure his skill."

"And?"

"…The keyblade does not choose its master for his technique, but rather his heart."

"Yes, yes, we know this already." Vexen snapped, glaring up at her, "Is that a roundabout way of saying he is unskilled?"

Virva shook her head, "No. He wields it proficiently and was able to defeat me, but the way he fights… It is clear he was not trained by conventional methods. This makes him unpredictable, which can make him a threat if he is underestimated."

"I see." Vexen tied a piece of cloth around her hand sharply, pursing his lips, "Stay in the lab and continue working. I am going to… look around. If Axel comes and asks, make sure to give him a complete report. Leave nothing out."

The Heartless stood and bowed rigidly, "It is understood, Master." She watched him as he stood abruptly and stormed out of the lab, pausing at the door.

"Oh… And be sure to awaken the Riku Replica. I think it's about time he had a test run on his new abilities."

Virva waited until he was gone to turn to the bed in the back of the lab. On the bed was a sheet, covering the bulge of a person beneath. Blinking, Virva walked over to the bed and pulled the sheet off, tossing it aside and staring at the boy underneath.

He was a fairly tall teen with silver hair and an angry face, and was supposedly a copy of another boy by the same name. Regardless, though, of whether or not he was copied from a human being, he still wore the emblem of a Heartless and was created after her, thus Virva had seniority.

"Replica, wake up."

Even in sleep, the Replica sneered at this. He tossed for a minute, then sat up abruptly and glared up at her. "How many times have I told you not to call me 'Replica'? My name is Riku!"

"No, it's not." Virva replied, steadfast, "The name 'Riku' belongs to the person your data was taken from; you are nothing more than a copy… a fake… a reproduction… a Replica. Now, get up, Replica. Master wants you awake and ready to test your new skills when he is ready for you." Message delivered, Virva turned back to the rest of the lab and walked over to her workbench, checking on her embryos.

The Replica walked up behind her and watched, observing the care she put into her 'children'. "When will the first be ready?"

"Anywhere from two hours to two days." She answered, gently inserting a long needle into the Invisible crossbreed and injecting a nutrient enriched liquid. "Heartless have never been bred in this way before, so we are unsure."

"But what do your Heartless instincts tell you?" The Replica pressed, "I mean, they gotta say something about this, right?"

For a moment, she continued working as if she hadn't heard him. The Replica was about to walk off when she replied, "Three hours and fifteen minutes… Then, he'll be ready."

Behind them a portal opened.

Not looking up, Virva gestured to the portal, "Master is calling you."

The Replica scoffed, but turned and walked through the portal nonetheless.

When there was nothing left for Virva to do but wait for her child to waken, she teleported to her room to check on Neuter. She fed and watered the kitten, both of which he gobbled down as quickly as he could so he could clamp himself to her leg and stubbornly refused to let go.

Virva stared down at the kitten, puzzled. "Why are you so… clingy?"

Neuter glared up and her and mewled impatiently.

The Heartless blinked, then promptly stuck out her leg and shook it, attempting to dislodge the feline. When Neuter refused to let go, though, she lowered her leg, "Very well, but you will not impede me from my duties. You'll just have to come along."

The kitten blinked and snorted, satisfied. He tensed, though, and nearly had a heart attack when they slipped into the freezing depths of a corridor of darkness, waves of cold washing over the poor kitten like water.

On the other side, Virva immediately set about to work, oblivious to the half frozen Neuter stuck to her leg.

Clearing off one of the many long metal tables in the room, the Heartless spread a large towel out over the metal expanse and smoothed it out as much as possible, using metal clamps to secure the edges.

"The boy beat Larxene."

Virva froze for a mere second before she went back to work, laying out several more towels and a pan of hot water.

"What are you playing at, Heartless?"

"I could ask the same of you, Master Axel." She responded, walking over to the Invisible crossbreed and checking on its vitals.

"Was that sarcasm I detected, Virva?"

"You know I am incapable of feeling emotions, Master Axel."

"…The boy beat Larxene… with one of your cards. …What possessed you to give it to him?"

"…I don't know."

"…If Marluxia or the Superior find out, you'll be killed."

"And if they find out you let me live, so will you."

They both fell silent, realizing the precarious situation they were in. Virva was sure Alex would strike her down there, but instead…

"So, I take it the first one will be waking soon?"

She nodded, "Yes, soon enough."

"Mind if I watch?"

"If that is what you wish, Master Axel."

"…Is that a cat stuck to your leg?"


	12. Awakening

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(Awakening)

Virva felt an odd, flighty sensation welling up in her chest. It made her feel weightless and faint, as if she were suffering from lack of oxygen. Yet, at the same time, it made her feel grounded and gave her an intense sense of reality; an existence that was true and happening.

She supposed it was an 'out-of-body experience' she was feeling, and there was a justification for this sensation.

Her first child had been born.

Working quickly to dry off the pale grey writhing figure before her, drenched in viscous pseudo-amniotic fluids, her mind was racing as to what actions to take next. Deciding quickly, she finished drying her child and grabbed several thick leather binds from beneath the table, strapping the Heartless across its neck, abdomen and legs to keep it still.

Fingers working with deft precision, Virva reached to the small rolling stand beside her and took out several syringes and vials of powder and liquid, mixing and injecting… mixing and injecting.

Before long, the vials were empty and the syringes were all used. The Heartless hybrid was no longer pale grey, but the abyss-like black of his brethren. Its beady yellow eyes, which up until now had been darting around in its skull aimlessly, locked onto her as the injections began to take effect. Then, with its eyes still on her, the Heartless began to take form.

Virva stepped back and watched as her child grew, bulking up until the leather straps broke. He rose into a sitting position and stretched the muscles on his back, black leathery wings sprouting. Then he held out his arms, two stubbly little forms that quickly lengthened and narrowed, forming blades. The black of the blades turned to pale blue, as did the lining of the wings.

There was no mistake that this child was bred from an Invisible.

"Whoa…" Axel shook his head, "Nice work, V."

When the Heartless rose from the table, his leathery wings flapping constantly, Virva waved her arm and summoned a portal. "." When her child had dove through, Virva glanced and Axel and nodded, "I must take him to be inspected by Master immediately. Please leave the lab until I return."

* * *

Vexen looked up from the book he was reading, blinking at his creation and the creature beside her. "What is this?"

Virva bowed, "Master, this is the Blade Scytha."

The scientist blinked, then rose, walking slowly towards the two Heartless, walking around the new one and taking its appearance in. "This… is the product of the Invisible cross, isn't it?"

"It is." She answered, nodding.

"And it is, as of yet, untested?"

She nodded again.

Vexen jerked his head, "Good. Send it on the boy immediately, no matter where he is. I want him to be its first task."

Virva nodded, turning to the Blade Scytha and flicking her wrist, "."

The Blade Scytha folded in on itself and dissipated in a puff.

"You've done well, Virva." She turned to her master, who nodded to her, "I, myself, was skeptical on whether or not this would work, but you did it."

She nodded, bowing slightly. She was silent as Vexen returned to his seat, then stepped forward and started, "Master…"

Momentarily placated by her success, Vexen regarded her with less frostiness than usual and nodded, "Yes?"

"Was I… ever human?"

The scientist stopped, looking up at her silently for a moment. "…Why?"

Virva blinked, "What separates Pureblood Heartless from Emblem Heartless is their origins… That is, Pureblood Heartless are born from the darkness in the hearts of humans, and Emblem Heatless are manufactured, correct?"

Vexen frowned at the lack of answer to his own question, but consented. "…That is… correct."

"…" Virva took a step back, "Master… I have no Emblem… I have checked and found none. …Does that mean that, before I was a Heartless, I was human?"

After a pause, Vexen nodded, "You were."

"What was my name?" She asked immediately, "What world was I born in? Why did you choose me? Whe—"

"Silence!" Vexen bellowed, jumping to his feet. Virva when complied immediately, he stared at her incredulously, shaking his head. "You're failing… It should be beyond you to ask questions like those—"

"How can a Heartless fail, Master?" Virva cut in, her voice quiet, "You say I am a Pureblood Heartless, yet you _designed_ me to resemble both Master Marluxia and Mistress Larxene… But if I was _designed_, I should have an emblem, yet I don't. If I were a true Heartless, I shouldn't wane.

"You're right; by my design, I shouldn't be able to ask questions like this. I shouldn't be able to make observations like this. I shouldn't be able to speak to you like this… yet I am." Virva paused, then looked at Vexen, her face as blank as ever yet something burning in her eyes. "Master, I have deduced that I am not a Heartless. Tell me; what am I?"

Vexen was on his feet in a second, hand pointed at Virva and a long spike of ice forming and flying at her. He watched silently as Virva, with no time to react, was pierced through the chest by the spike.

Virva gasped and stumbled backwards, hands groping helplessly at the barb still sticking out of her chest. When she stumbled back into a wall, the ice was pushed out slightly and green blood began to flow out, forming a large pool around her feet in seconds.

A metallic taste built up in her mouth and parted her lips, more green running thickly out of her mouth and dribbling down onto the spear.

"Ma—ster…" She fell to her knees, "Why?" But Vexen didn't answer. He just looked down at her with a blank face, and as he watched her suffer she felt an odd sensation well up inside of her.

The more she felt her life fade the stronger the sensation grew. It left an acidic taste in her mouth that overpowered the metallic tang of blood, and it seemed to gnaw at… _something_ in her chest.

The sensation, whatever it was, prompted her to reach out to Vexen, so she did. One arm lifted weakly, then the other, as both hands grasped for the man.

"Mas—ter… please…"

"Hey, Vexen, have you seen—Holy Shit!"

Virva heard the voice (Master Axel?) but she didn't turn to it, her eyes locked on Vexen. "…master…"

"Fuck, Vexen, what the hell?!"

Eyes leaving Virva, Vexen turned to Axel and shrugged, offhandedly saying, "The Heartless was a failure. She will have to be completely wiped and redone."

As her hearing began to ring out and her vision fuzz over, the sensation grew and welled up in her throat. She choked on it, making both Nobodies turn to her.

It sounded like she was going to…

"Master…" Virva whispered, her expressionless nature melting away as some _emotion_ filtered into her voice. "Please… help me…"

But Vexen just stared at her blankly. "There is nothing I can do for a failure."

And with that, her life let go.

Virva fell over, and as darkness ate away at the edges of her vision, she finally recognized what sensation she had been feeling.

_**Betrayal.

* * *

**_

"…Vexen, tell me right now that that girl wasn't about to cry."

"She wasn't about to cry."

"DAMN IT, VEXEN, YOU ANSWERED TOO QUICK! SHIT, SHE WAS GOING TO CRY, WASN'T SHE?!"

"Please lower your voice, Axel."

"Hey, Axel, that new Heartless just— What the fuck happened in here?!"

"Vexen just killed Virva."

"What?! Why?!"

"You were about to say something, Larxene?"

"Uhh… yeah, the Blade Scytha just beat Sora. It was a hit."

"He's not dead though, is he?!"

"No. Marluxia intervened before the Heartless finished him off. Why do you care, anyway, Axel?"

"Because we're not done with him."

"If you two don't mind, I'd like to get back to work. The Heartless is going to have to be reconstructed."

"You're going to bring her back to life?"

"Yes and no. This body is no longer useable, so I'll have to transfer her mind into another one. That and her mental design will be scrapped and rewritten. This one allowed too much through."

"Allowed too much of _what_ through, Vexen? Just what is she?!"

"She is a Heartless, Axel. Nothing more and nothing less."

"Damn it, Vexen, HEARTLESS DON'T CRY!"

"Excuse me."

"…Axel, what was that about?"

"I don't know, Larxene, but I have a feeling Vexen is hiding something."

"…Did the Heartless really cry?"

"…No, but it sounded like she wanted to. Shit, Larxene, she _honestly_ sounded like she _wanted to cry_."

* * *

_Thinking of you, wherever you are._

…What?

_We pray for our sorrows to end,_

_and hope that our hearts will blend._

_Now I will step forward to realize this wish._

…Where am I?

_And who knows:_

_starting a new journey might not be so hard_

_or maybe it has already begun._

…Am I dead?

_There are many worlds,_

_but they share the same sky—_

_one sky, one destiny._

…Who's there?

**Are you ready?**

What?

_When you walk away_

_You don't hear me say please_

_Oh baby, don't go_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go_

**Are you ready to start over?**

_You're giving me too many things_

_Lately you're all I need_

_You smiled at me and said,_

…Who are you?

_Don't get me wrong I love you_

_But does that mean I have to meet your father?_

_When we are older you'll understand_

_What I meant when I said "No,_

_I don't think life is quite that simple"_

**Who I am doesn't matter. Now, are you ready?**

_When you walk away_

_You don't hear me say please_

_Oh baby, don't go_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go_

…What do I have to do?

**Nothing. Just tell me if that's what you want, but be careful with your decision. You won't be able to turn back after this.**

_The daily things that keep us all busy_

_Are confusing me_

_That's when you came to me and said,_

What will I be?

**When you reawaken, what he wants you to be. When the time comes, though, you will be able to break your bonds and be free once more.**

…Once more?

_Wish I could prove I love you_

_But does that mean I have to walk on water?_

_When we are older you'll understand_

_It's enough when I say so_

_And maybe some things are that simple_

_When you walk away_

_You don't hear me say please_

_Oh baby, don't go_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go_

**It will be up to you to decide.**

…I'm ready.

_Hold me_

_Whatever lies beyond this morning_

_Is a little later on_

_Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all_

_Nothing's like before_

_When you walk away_

_You don't hear me say please_

_Oh baby, don't go_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go_

**And you are sure?**

_Hold me_

_Whatever lies beyond this morning_

_Is a little later on_

_Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all_

_Nothing's like before_

Completely.

**Very well.**

_Hold me_

_Whatever lies beyond this morning_

_Is a little later on_

_Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all_

_Nothing's like before_


	13. Things Fall Apart

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(Things Fall Apart)

She opened her eyes to find herself standing before Xemnas.

The Nobody quirked a brow, "You? Well, this is certainly unexpected… I never would have guessed that the next Nobody would be you."

She frowned, then panicked and clutched at her throat as it began to heave and her chest cave. What was wrong?!

"You know, you still need to breathe."

"Gaaah!" She opened her mouth and fell to her knees, kneeling on all fours and sucking in air.

"Hmph, even now, you _still_ aren't bright, are you?"

"Who the hell are you, Xemnas!?" She snapped, glaring up at him. When he quirked a brow, she frowned, "Wait… how did I…" She trailed off, shaking her head.

"Ahh, I see," Xemnas said after a moment, shaking his head, "You don't remember who you used to be, do you?" He smirked, "I wonder how Vexen will react to this?"

She shot to her feet, "Master?" She paused again, scowling, "What the hell?!" How did she already know these peoples names?!

"It would appear as though you're no longer bound by Vexen…" He stood straight and nodded to her, "Come with me."

"Why should I?" She hissed, taking a step back.

"First off, you're naked." When she reddened and began to attempt to cover herself, he quirked a brow and went on, "Second, you have no clue where you are and you are utterly alone in this world. If you want to have any hope of survival, you will come with me."

She looked at his outstretched hand, hesitated, then took it, closing her eyes when they both disappeared into cold, everlasting darkness.

* * *

"Vexen, I have someone who would appreciate a little 'heart to heart' time with you." Xemnas announced, a smirk on his face as he walked into one of the unofficial break rooms of Castle Oblivion.

The people occupying the room laughed lightly at the joke, but Vexen scowled, "Who are you ta—" He stopped upon seeing who was walking with Xemnas, garbed in the Organization uniform. "Virva?! What are you doing awake?!"

She frowned and crossed her arms, "You talking to me?"

"Clearly." Vexen snarled, standing and pointing to her, "Now get back to the lab and go to sleep immediately!"

This pissed her off. "Dude, I don't know who in the hell you think you are, but I ain't this 'Vera' or whatever-her-name-is, so don't freaking talk to me like that!"

Vexen balked sharply and the Nobodies in the room stared at her in shock. Never before, _never_, had the Heartless refused a direct order from Vexen.

Looking her up and down, they saw the woman was even taller than she had been before, her insanely pink hair was now darker, almost red, and her pupil-less blue eyes were a deeper shade of blue, bordering navy. She still looked like Larxene, though, and her skin was still alabaster white.

Clearly she was Virva, but something was wrong.

"V," Axel began, standing slowly and throwing her one of his trademark smirks, "Come on, now, you gotta remember who we are. I'm A—"

"I know who you are, Axel!" She snapped, frowning in intense confusion, "I just don't know _how_ I know who you are, but I do _know_ that I'm not 'Virva'."

"I can assure you that you are." Vexen said, crossing his arms, "'Virva' is the designation I gave your strand of Heartless."

"Actually," Xemnas cut in, smirking, "She is a 'Nobody' now."

The room fell silent and Vexen's eyes widened.

The scientist recovered quickly, though, and nodded, "I see… Well, I suppose introductions are in order." He walked to her and held out his hand, "I am—"

"Ve—" The woman began to cut in, only to freeze as soon as her hand made contact with Vexen's. Millions of thoughts and memories began to emerge, flashes of light that abruptly consumed her mind and overloaded her senses until her body refused to function.

Vexen seemed to notice the struggle inside of her, because he smirked, "Yes?"

As quickly as the flood came, it receded, and the woman let go of Vexen's hand and knelt before him. "Master."

"Very good, then," Vexen nodded abruptly, waving her off, "Go to the lab and continue with your experiments. I will be down shortly."

The Nobody nodded and disappeared.

When they were sure she was gone, Marluxia turned to Xemnas and quirked a brow, "So, what's her name now?"

"Virva." Vexen answered immediately, pursing his lips. "I don't care if she is a Nobody; she is still my creation and will remain under my command." He looked at Xemnas, as if daring him to object.

The Superior, though, just chuckled and raised his hands in mock surrender, "Far be it from me to take away your toy, Vexen. She is useless as a Nobody, anyway, as long as she is under your shadow."

Vexen nodded stiffly, then turned and walked out of the room.

"Sir…" Axel began hesitantly after the blonde scientist had left, "There's something… not right about Virva."

"I am aware of that, Axel." Xemnas rumbled, disappearing as he began to teleport back to the Castle That Never Was, "I am perfectly aware…"

When only Marluxia, Larxene, Axel, Lexaeus, and Zexion, Axel turned to his comrades and raised his hand, "Okay, so who else hates it when they're left in the dark… proverbially?"

The hands of the other four Nobodies immediately shot into the air.

* * *

"You have quite a bit of work to make up on." Vexen grumbled as he walked around his messy lab.

Virva blinked. Okay, so 'messy' was an understatement. The thing about Vexen was this; he was an utterly brilliant man, but he had no inclination to clean up after himself whatsoever. This led to many… loud conversations, considering he was also the kind of man who firmly (and unconsciously) believed in the male idea that 'if it's not where it's supposed to be, it no longer exists'.

While Vexen began to rattle off about experiments she needed to restart and conduct, she silently began cleaning, which she had always made sure to take care of back when she was a Heartless.

"…and finally, we've been doing our best to recreate the Blade Scytha, but we seem to be lacking—" Vexen looked up from his notes, which he had been rifling through as he spoke, and froze to see that the lab was spotless from top to bottom. "…How did you manage to do this in… ten minutes?"

"Eleven, sir," Virva corrected, "And my speed seems to have increased with my change from Heartless to Nobody. Now, if there is nothing else, perhaps I should get started on the experiments you listed for me."

Vexen grumbled and nodded, turning to the door and walking to it quickly. "I am off to see how the boy is progressing. Keep an eye out for things while I am gone. …And Virva," She turned to him, blinking at the odd look on his face, "…Don't be gone when I get back."

She blinked, then nodded and bowed, "Thine will be done, Master. I will always be here."

Vexen, though, never came back.

While she was working late into the night on yet another Heartless crossbreed, Axel came to the lab and to speak to her…

"Hey, V, you got a moment?"

She didn't answer, but rather sat on the stool across from Axel. The flame-user scratched the back of his head and sighed.

"Virva… Vexen's dead."

No more needed to be said, and even if it were necessary there was no way Axel could say any more.

As soon as she heard those words, Virva went completely numb. Her eyes went out of focus and her legs lost all feeling; her hands and arms tensed until they were like stone and her spine snapped erect so fast her tailbone popped.

Knowing he had done all he could, Axel stood and walked out of the room.

The time Virva spent simply sitting on that stool was… immeasurable to her, mainly because she lost all sense of time. She knew that, several times, one or several of the Organization would come to try to get her out of the room (several of her Blade Scytha had gone on a rampage and Neuter was annoying them so that they were tempted to kill him), but she never responded.

Eventually, she did manage to muster the strength to leave the lab, grab Neuter, and teleport back to the Castle That Never Was. Once there, she immediately located Xemnas, who was in a meeting with Xaldin and Xigbar, and knelt before the Superior.

"Master Xemnas, Master is dead, and I am unsure as to how to proceed. I seek your guidance and or orders."

"Dead?" Xemnas repeated after a moment, resulting in an affirmative nod from Virva. "I see… There was something Vexen left you, in the event of this, and I think you should see it."

"I couldn't possibly." She muttered, "My one true purpose… was to protect him, and I didn't even know he was in danger. I don't deserve to see anything he may have left behind."

"_Virva._" She jumped to her feet immediately upon hearing Vexen's voice, staring at the hologram in front of her with rapt attention as it nodded to her. "_I release you from my control._"

The three head Nobodies watched as a sudden change came over Virva; her eyes glazed over, her legs weakened and her body swayed back and forth dangerously.

The Vexen hologram nodded to her again, "Go to your room and rest now. Though you are no loner bound to me, it would be in your best interest to heed my suggestion."

She nodded and turned to take the advice, but her knees buckled and she helplessly let gravity drag her down. She was saved from a busted face, though, when someone grabbed the hood of her coat, saving her mere inches from the ground.

"Whoa, there." Xigbar grunted, jerking her back and wrapping an arm around her waist, "Come on, V, let's get you to your room."

"If you insist, Master Xigbar… Xigbar… Xiggy…" Virva slurred.

Xigbar quirked a brow, then shrugged it off and turned to Xaldin, "Could you grab the cat?"

The lance wielder rolled his eyes and smirked, grabbing the kitten and pulling it out of the death-claw grip it had on Virva's pant leg.

Xemnas watched them leave with mild interest, "I wonder what sort of 'Virva' will greet us tomorrow…"

* * *

Needless to say, the 'Virva' that greeted them wasn't the happiest person on the planet.

"WERE THE HELL AM I?! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

Xaldin sighed and shook his head. When she had woken up in this state, they had had no choice but to contain her in the bowels of the castle, which, of course didn't set well with her. This was not going to be easy.

"Look, kid, just cool it and list—"

"FUCK OFF, XIGBAR!! …WHERE'S VEXEN?! I WANT TO TALK TO VEXEN!"

II and III exchanged glances, making the woman in inside of the cell in front of them narrow her eyes.

'Something's not right…' "Where is he?" She growled.

"He's dead." Xigbar answered with a frown, "You came and told us he died last night. Remember?"

A long shudder ran from the top of her head down her arm, and she hissed, "Apparently I don't." An odd light flashed through her eyes, "He's… dead?"

The sharpshooter nodded, "It was confirmed earlier this morning in a report Axel sent."

"I see…" She paused, then asked, "What's going to happen to me now that he's dead?"

Xaldin and Xigbar both shrugged, the lance wielder answering, "You'll probably be assigned his lab to pick up on where he left off."

"And if I feel disinclined to comply? Then what?"

The Organization members blinked in slight surprise, raising their brows, "No one turns down the Superior; no one."

She shuddered as they teleported away, one of them throwing back a "Later, Virva". Once she was alone, she slumped to the ground, staring at the bars of her cell in anger…

'No… not really anger… Not anger at all. I can't… feel.' She clutched her chest, which felt oddly…'Hollow. Like nothing's there. I wonder why…'

Though it was true she had _sounded_ angry, she hadn't really _felt_ it; she only knew she was supposed to feel it, so she had pretended she did.

'What in the hell is wrong with me?'

And then there was what they had called her: 'Virva'.

"That sure as hell ain't my name." She snarled, curling her upper lip.

Her real name was… well, frankly, she couldn't remember it. She could hardly remember anything before she had woken up that morning, and the few solid memories she did have told her little beyond Vexen being her 'Master' and her being completely devoted to him. That was it, though.

Well… there was one more thing.

"_You? Well, this is certainly unexpected… I never would have guessed that the next Nobody would be you."_

Xemnas had said that to her the first time she had been truly conscious. But what had he meant by 'Nobody'?

No matter how she tried to make sense of it, she knew that nothing would come to her on her own. She needed a catalyst to help her, and the only thing that came to mine was…

"Vexen's lab."

"You ready, then?"

Jumping slightly, she turned and glared at Xigbar, who had reappeared beside her and was smirking down at her. She was about to chew him out when she stopped herself. 'Remember; you need him to get out of here.' So she took a deep breath, "Yeah, I guess I am."

The sharpshooter nodded, "Good. Now, just clear your mind and imagine a black portal."

Confused but willing to comply, she did as she was told and deadpanned when a swirling black vortex opened in front of her. "I've been able to do this the whole time, haven't I?"

"Infuriating, ain't it?" Xigbar chuckled, "Just think about Vexen's lab and walk through. You'll come out there on the other side."

After glaring at him for a moment, she turned and walked through.

Xigbar waited until the portal was closed to frown after her. Something definitely wasn't right here…


	14. Making A Decision

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(Making a Decision)

"Has she chosen to accept her inheritance?"

"She has. She went back to the lab and started working last night. Just this morning, she made a leap from making Heartless to making Nobodies. Three new strains are already in progress."

"Excellent. …She's progressing quicker than expected."

"Yeah, but…"

"What?"

"Well… Sir… There's something… not right about her."

"AXEL!"

"No, no, don't interrupt him. What do you mean?"

"Well… I don't know, but, I have a feeling Vexen hid something about her from us. Something real important."

"And how many of you feel similarly?"

Silence.

"I see… I'll admit, I, too, am suspicious about her origins. Vexen claimed that she was a Heartless when she was introduced to us, but her Nobody didn't appear until after he had 'killed' her Heartless."

"So does that mean she was—"

"Most likely. In which case there is even more about her that we don't know, because she acted exactly as a Heartless was expected to act."

"There is another thing. Vexen installed some kind of… release into her mind that freed her willpower as soon as a special sequence of words in his voice was played to her. We've gotta figure that that may change how she fights in some significant way."

"…So, if Vexen did install a mental release, what else could he have put in her head?"

"Only time will tell. For now, be wary of her. We have already lost too many to the Castle Oblivion failure; it would be truly pathetic for any more casualties to be suffered because individuals were lax in their defenses. Now, on to other matters; Naminé has begun the boy's restoration. This shall take some time, but for now we will…"

* * *

She looked at the book in front of her blankly.

The words inside were written in messy and clipped, the smudges that joined entire letters, words and sentences hinting that the writer had been in a hurry to not everything; as if they would forget the information, or perhaps didn't have the time to scribe it neatly. The length of the writing, though, hinted at the care that had been taken into observing every detail of the subject of the writing.

Note the lack of plural; sub**ject**. The whole book was dedicated to observing one thing. True, the book was only eighty pages long, but the writing was cramped, and the scribe had clearly not wanted to waste space.

And the subject of the book? …A single person. A single female. A single girl.

Her eyes absorbed all there was to read about this girl, pausing often to take time to decipher Vexen's chicken scratch, but otherwise unhindered.

"_The sister of the princess is… special, to say the least. Though her heart isn't as pure, it is stronger a majority of the time and its resolve is unwavering._

_I believe that, when the time comes, she will be my prime candidate for a special experiment I plan on conducting._

_For the time being, I shall study her and see how her heart progresses."_

She reached out and flipped a few pages before reading again.

"_The time fast approaches when the final experiment will begin and, despite the care that went into planning all of our actions, it seems like there isn't enough time to get done what needs to be done._

_I will have to postpone the experiment with the sister, though I must note that she has progressed faster than anticipated._

_She will prove to be the perfect candidate. I will have no other._

_For now, all I can do is hope that she will be able to find refuge when the experiments begin."_

She skipped a few more pages.

"_My search has proven futile._

_I have searched the castle a hundred times over, but the girl is gone._

_There are only two things that could have happened to her: she either escaped, or she is now a Heartless._

_Where my colleagues not present, I would leave on my own to search for her, but for now I must go with them and abandon her, least they become suspicious._

_I will keep my eye out for her, but for now the experiment is closed."_

She flipped to the next page, blinking. There must have been a huge time skip, because the ink on the next page was darker and not nearly as smudged. She read faster than before.

"_It's a miracle… a complete miracle._

_Upon seeking new worlds for our relocation, we found her. She was older (unnecessarily stated, of course, but I am still shocked by the dramatic changes that took place, so I must record them), but more importantly she had completely forgotten what happened at the first outbreak of Heartless._

_And, even more important that that, her heart is still as strong as ever._

_Her candidacy for the experiment never changed, so with the Superior's permission I will take her and commence."_

There was nothing after that but progress reports and diagrams, but by now she had already figured out who this girl was.

Finally, on the last page.

"_In order to prevent her from prematurely rediscovering the truth, I have subjected the girl to a memory wipe far deeper than any attempted before._

_In lieu, I have also taken her name._

…_Girl, if you ever find this, you will need this to remember who you truly are._

_Issura"_

Issura adopted the name immediately; it belonged to her and only her, and she would never let anyone take it again.

Then, she began to do the only other thing she could think of doing; working on creating more artificial Nobodies.

Regardless of how she felt about working for Organization XIII, they were still Vexen's former colleagues, and all she had ever known (or at least all she could remember) was Vexen and her allegiance to him. At that point, it was all she had.

Issura was just reaching across the desk to grab some of Vexen's notes when she heard a portal open behind her.

"Yo, yo, yo, what's crackin'?!"

Issura sighed, turning and raising a brow at Demyx, "Your skull in about five seconds."

Demyx winced dramatically, smirking, "Ouch!"

"Did you want anything?"

"Yeah, actually." He danced over to the nearest work table and flung himself down on it, hanging his head over the edge to stare at her upside-down and crossing his legs, "I heard you were the one I would talk to about hooking up with a good regiment of Nobodies."

"This isn't a store, Demyx." Issura rolled her eyes, "This is a laboratory. It's a place of experimentation, not an assembly line."

Demyx quirked a brow, "You know, Virva, for a moment you almost sounded like Ve—"

"DON'T!" She started, turning around and glaring him down, "Say his name!" She then turned away sharply, snapping, "And my name isn't Virva. It's Issura, I-S-S, U-R-A. Got it?!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

Issura was glad she was turned away from him, because she couldn't help a smirk when she imagined him standing straight and saluting her, a slightly nervous look on his face. "What kind can I get you, Demy?"

"You-you're really going to do it?!"

"Of course I am!" Issura replied, turning around and smirking at him, "But you can't tell anyone else, okay? The last thing I need is eleven other Nobodies pouring down here for 'special orders'."

"Uh… actually, Issura, there's only eight of us now."

Seeing how quickly the boy turned serious, Issura stared at him in shock, "You're kidding… Who's gone? Why?"

"Well, there's Ve—" He stopped himself, coughing before he went on, "Larxene, Marluxia, Zexion and Lexaeus. And it was the Keyblade Master that killed 'em, I think… Except—" Demyx cut himself off, again, looking away nervously this time.

Issura narrowed her eyes, "Except who, Demyx?"

He turned away, twiddling his thumbs, "No one…"

"Demyx." Issura growled, glaring at him, "Who."

"mmph…exen…" He muttered, lowering his head.

A wave of numbness passed through her body as she dully asked, "Who killed Master?"

Demyx turned slowly, staring at her with blank eyes and muttering his answer before disappearing into the black portal.

Issura stared after him for a long while, neither moving nor thinking, and hardly breathing. Then, she turned back to the table and started to work on creating a small regiment of artificial Nobodies for Demyx.

Shortly after she started, though, she quit and decided to head to a new world, instead, where she kidnapped several people and forcibly ripped out their hearts.

She watched deadpanned as the shells that were left behind began to mutate into Nobodies and as their Heartless slipped away. What was left of the shells was several jerking pinkish Nobodies that she decided to call 'Dancers'.

After directing them to Demyx, Issura returned to the Castle That Never Was and recorded the data, shut the lab for the night, and went to bed.

Staring at the ceiling, she thought of the name of the one who had betrayed her over and over, unsure of what to do or how to make herself pretend she was feeling.

Axel.

* * *

"You killed him."

Axel jumped, as did the rest of the Organization, and stared at Issura with wide eyes. She had snuck up on all of them, unnoticed, while they were sitting down in the dining room (though no one was really 'dining') and was staring down at the flame-user with an unreadable expression.

"Hey, V!" Axel smirked, "What's u—"

"You _killed_ **him**." She repeated, emphasizing every word in a different way.

Axel blinked, surprised, "Who?"

Her hand shot out and grabbed the back of his neck, pushing him forward harshly so his face slammed into the white surface of the table. "You killed my Master."

Axel tried to lift himself over and over, but Issura had combined her strength (artificially enhanced by Vexen) with her power of will control and held him in place.

"Are you going to deny it or not?!" Issura hissed, hand jerking and tightening against his throat.

The others of the Organization made to stop her, but one look from her and a wave of Xemnas' hand stopped them.

"I see no point in trying to defend myself," Axel wheezed, "You've already made your decision."

"So you did."

"Yeah, I did. What of it?"

Issura let go of his throat quickly and jumped back, rubbing her hand as if she had zapped her with static electricity. "I trusted you…" She muttered.

Axel stood slowly and turned to face her, rubbing his neck, "He was a traitor, V. He would have told Sora everything, which would have ruined it for us."

"I trusted you." She repeated, raising her voice and glaring at him.

"Then clearly that was a mistake."

Issura stared at him, then acknowledged the others, "I've designed a strain of Nobody for each of you to control. You'll find that they'll answer to you quite easily and that they are far more powerful than the Heartless. Now, if you'll excuse me…" She turned to walk away.

"V, wait!"

"My name, Axel," She said without stopping, "Is Issura, and I will not wait. Master was my only Master, and his last act was to free me. I no longer have to listen to you, no matter if I am inferior to the _great_ members of Organization XIII."

The last gift Vexen had given her was free will. Now, with the power to control will, the power of free will, and, most importantly, the power to _chose_, Issura returned to Vexen lab once more.

There, she gathered several select books and notes before she locked the doors, put a magical barrier around the room, and walked out of the Castle and teleported out of the World for good, fully intending to disappear and never return.


	15. A Place to Hide

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

* * *

(A Place to Hide)

Issura knew she needed to get away… far away. Anything less than 'far away' would assure that the Organization would find her again.

She sat on the bench in some world called 'Twilight Town', which was extremely nice and homey, but according to the map she had nicked off of a moogle (why are they always the only ones who have maps that show _all_ of the worlds? damn stingy human store owners) it was also the closest world to The World That Never Was.

In short; Twilight Town was a no-go.

Next on the map was Hallow Bastion…

'Nah. Still too close. How about we skip a few worlds?'

And that was how she landed on Olympus Coliseum. It was nice and at the other end of the galaxy, and it wasn't the Pride Lands (which, as she remembered, turned people into animals when they went there, and that wasn't something she was looking to experience).

Destination decided and not really caring who saw her, Issura stood and opened a corridor of darkness and stepped through, appearing behind the giant foot of a statue a moment later. When she stepped down onto the ground, she was… stunned to say the least.

The Olympus Coliseum lived up to its name in both mass and popularity; all around her were giant pillars and great crowds of people, all from other worlds. On that note, she noticed that just as she started walking, several card men toting a guilt litter occupied with a fat queen in a red dress scuffled past, heading for the large door between the two statues.

Issura blinked as the woman went on about someone who needed an 'offing with their head'. "O-kay…"

She made to follow the gathering crowd into the giant blue doors, but one glance at her wrist as it came up in her swagger-ish walk stopped her where she was, making her slither back into the shadows.

Her Organization jacket… she had completely forgotten to change.

"Shit… what else did I forget?!" She began to make a list.

Money…

Clothes…

Cat… wait… CAT?!

"SHIT!" Issura cursed loudly, throwing her head back, "I forgot Neuter!" The poor thing wouldn't last half a day at the castle if anyone in the Organization found him… then again, she couldn't very well go back and get him. Hell, even if it made her a cruel, heartless (irony!) bitch, there was no way she was going to be held against her will by those bastards. "Sorry, Neuter. I'll pray for you."

"Kinda ironic comin' from someone like you, ain't it?"

Issura spun around, coming face-to-abdomen with some really tall guy in grey robes. Her eyes traveled up until they locked on a blue face accompanied by sharp teeth and flaming blue hair. "Do I know you?" She asked with a quirked brow.

The man smirked, "Nope, but I know you… well," He shrugged, "I'll admit, I only have an idea of what you are. But let me assure you, it's a pretty good one."

Both brows shot up, "Really?"

"Yeah." The man crossed his arms, "You're either a Heartless or closely related. Tell me, how close am I?"

Issura was, admittedly, shocked (frankly, she'd be stupid not to be), but she did her best not to let it show and turned away, waving derisively over her shoulder, "Erhh, wrong. Well, later."

"Hey, hey, hey, hold up!" The man reached forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Issura tensed and tried to pull away, but he was too strong. "Now listen, babe, I know souls, and I mean I know souls, and I know for a fact that while you may have some human form, you are definitely missing something. There's no way you can fool Hades, Lord of the Dead."

Issura glanced at him, quirking a brow, "Isn't Hades supposed to be the name of the underworld? I thought your name was Pluto."

Hades shrugged, "I've been Disney-fied. But we have more important things to deal with. Like…" He leaned closer and whispered, "Whether or not I'm going to tell Wonderboy that you're a—"

"Hades!" They both looked up, blinking at the young, muscular, glowing man standing in front of them. Hercules scowled, "Get away from her."

"Bu—" Hades stopped himself, a slow smile drawing on his face, "Alright, then, Herc, I'll back off. Just watch your back around this one." The death god turned and walked away.

Hercules glared after him until he was gone, then smiled at Issura, "You alright?"

"Yeah, fine." She nodded, forcing a smile, "It was just… startling."

"Don't worry about him," The demigod shook his head, "He may be the lord of the dead, but as long as Zeus is around no one will be undeservingly dragged to the Underworld. If he does bother you again, though, just look for me."

Issura's smile twitched nervously, "Thanks… Hey, you got a clothes store around here? This jacket is a bit too dark for this much sun…" She pulled at the collar of her jacket with a disarming smile, hoping he wouldn't recognize it.

Fortunately Hercules did not realize the significance of the coat, because he just nodded and smiled, pointing to the blue door people kept pouring into. "There's a moogle accessory shop in there where you might be able to find something. And you should come watch the games while you're at it!"

Nodding and smiling, Issura waited until he was gone to look around.

Olympus Coliseum was a melting pot of worlds, where people could come and go as they pleased so long as they were respectful to the inherent rules of society and kept it clean in the games. It was the perfect world to hide in.

'So long as Hades doesn't do anything…' Issura thought, glancing back at where the Lord of the Dead had disappeared.

"LAST CALL FOR THE THREE O'CLOCK GAMES! LAST CALL TO BUY TICKETS!"

Spinning around, Issura ran to the blue doors and slipped inside with the last of the crowd. She wasn't planning on watching the games, but she could use the temporary lapse in people as time to get what she needed before things became too crowded again.

Once she reached the shop, though, she remembered that she was broke.

"Shit…" She cursed softly, staring down at the lab reports. They were the only paper she had brought, and the chicken scratch on them was utterly useless to her cause.

"What's the matter? You broke?"

Issura looked up, staring at the person in front of her. He was a rather tall man in a suit, the white shirt of which he had been too lazy to button up, with a mop of flaming red hair. Startlingly enough, he bore a scary resemblance to Axel; fortunately, there was a difference in their voices and hairstyles that told her he wasn't the flame-weilder.

He smirked at her and shrugged, "Why not enter yourself in the games? They have cash prizes."

She quirked a brow, "That so?"

"Yep." The man nodded, "And if they don't, you can win nice trinkets that fetch a fair price with the moogles."

Issura blinked, slightly shocked by the man's kindness. "Thank you, Mr. …?"

"Reno." Reno smirked, "Reno of the Turks. You ever need anything, just ask for me, Miss…"

"Issura." She smirked back, "And thanks, again."

"No prob." Reno turned and walked away, throwing a wave over his shoulder, "Lookin' forward to watching you in the games! Good luck!"

She smiled after him, waiting until he was gone to frown, "I wonder what he'll want from me in the future for that…" Issura then approached the small satyr, bowing to him, "May I enter to compete in the games?"

"Too late for these games." The satyr answered gruffly, looking down at a clipboard in his hands, "Come back for the five thirty matches."

"And do I come to you to sign in?"

The satyr paused, looking her up and down and blinking, "You really mean to compete?"

Issura held back a frown, "Yes, I do."

He considered this, then nodded, "Alright, yeah. Come and talk to me at five, and if you can't find me just ask for 'Phil'. That's my name; someone should be able to point you in the right direction."

"Thank you, Phil." Well, she was basically assured a place in the coming games, but what was she going to do about money for clothes until then?

She was mulling over the thought while she walked (never a good idea) when she tripped over something small and heavy (and that's why). Upon turning to glare at the offensive object, she found herself glaring at a small treasure chest. Curiosity followed, as did an instantaneous urge to find out what was inside.

'A shirt?' She tilted her head, brow furrowing.

The shirt was bright red, decorated with graphics of black and grey hearts and _fleur-de-lis_.

Issura looked around for a moment and, after making sure she was alone, walked into a dark corner. While facing the corner, she unzipped her jacket and pulled the shirt over her arms, then pulled it over her head while letting the jacket fall to the floor.

'Well, at least the jacket's down.' She thought as she picked up the long coat and folded it, 'Now all I have to do is get rid of the pants and the boots.'

But those, for the moment, could wait. She was already five times less recognizable without the obvious coat, but her hair and skin weren't really working in her favor.

'And that's why the geniuses invented hair dye and suntan lotion.'

Having nothing to do for the next hour and thirty minutes or so, Issura occupied herself with the only thing that came to mind; pulling a ninja and scoping the area.

Holding her jacket in one arm, she crouched down and pursed her lips, looking around herself slowly. Sure she was still alone, Issura crept forward slowly, staying low to the ground. Before she knew it, she was humming a soft, sneaky sounding song.

"Bum bum ba-da dum dum da-ba bum bum ba-da dum dum da-ba… dumdumdum… dumdumdum… dumdumdum… da dun! Bu—" She froze when she saw a shadow walking towards her, and, panicking, she jumped and crawled up a nearby pillar, pressing herself into the dark as she hung upside down.

Once the innocent bystander had passed, Issura dropped from the ceiling, flipping onto her feet and blinking in shock. "I think I've been hanging around Xigbar for too long…"

"Hey, you!"

Tensing, Issura turned around slowly, facing the angry red-faced man behind her who was glaring and pointing at her. "Yyyeeesss?"

"No hanging from the fucking ceiling! We just had these damn halls detailed!" That said, the angry man turned and walked away.

Issura blinked after him, "Well that was interesting…"

Once again, though, she had nothing to do.

After wandering around the halls aimlessly for several minutes, Issura flopped down onto the ground and stared at the wall.

"Well this sucks."

* * *

"Can you believe the world shifts that have been taking place?"

"I know! Why, just before that Keyblade Master resealed all of the opened keyholes, everything was fine. Then, not long after he sealed them again, the worlds started moving around. I never had this much trouble traveling to Olympus Coliseum before, but now there are new roadways and entirely new worlds! I can't even find my old home, Traverse Town! I had to take up new residence in Hallow Bastion! Not that I mind much, I would have had to go back soon enough, but I wish it could have been after the Restoration Team had had enough time to make it a bit safer!"

"I know what you mean. I can't even go back to Deep Jungle anymore for my usual supplies of those wonderful bananas."

Issura listened to all of this carefully, pondering. 'So, that Sora kid has enough power to move worlds? …He didn't seem _that_ strong when I fought him.' She sighed, 'I wonder where he is now? …What'll I do if he finds me again? If I lost to him before, there's no way I'll survive this time. I can't ignore pain anymore.'

She lifted her hand to her face, looking at where she had been burned when she had touched the keyblade. There was a large, glossy patch of white scar tissue there, and every now and then it still burned like hell.

"No," She murmured, frowning, "I wouldn't be able to survive another encounter like that."

"Attention all willing contestants," A loud voice suddenly echoed down the halls, "The five thirty games are now accepting sign ups. Repeat: The five thirty sign ups are now commencing. That is all."

"Yes!" Issura cheered, jumping out of the shadows and thoroughly scaring the two women whose conversation she had been listening in on. Slipping past the women, she ran down the hall and to the front door of the first arena, smiling when she saw Phil already there with a clipboard. "Hey, Phil!"

The satyr looked up, blinking in shock, "You really did mean it, didn't you?"

Issura nodded, "Yep. So, what do I have to do?"

Phil shook his head, "You sure about this? Come on, kid, you don't even have a weapon!"

She glanced at the clipboard in his hand, smirking when she saw that all of the contestants who had signed up so far had been Heartless. "Don't worry; I've got it covered." She paused, then asked, "Why exactly _do_ you let Heartless sign up, again?"

"Four words." Phil grunted, "We don't turn down contestants."

Issura blinked, looking down at her hands and counting it out, "But… that was fi—"

"Name." Phil said suddenly, cutting her off.

"Issura." She smirked, "Just Issura."

* * *

An hour later, the fights were over. They had all been Heartless, so Issura had competed easily enough. After all, she still was able to command Heartless to do whatever she wanted (actually, not so much command as strongly suggest, but they rarely didn't listen to her), so she actually hadn't had to do much at all.

Still, the battles were definitely some of the most gruesome the Coliseum had ever seen, considering Issura had demanded of all of the Heartless she faced that they completely slaughter their own teammates, and then demanded of whoever was left over that they dismember themselves.

And, of course, they had listened.

"Whoa," Phil blinked as Issura walked over to him smugly, "I never knew that a Heartless could do that with its body…"

"Consider yourself lucky that those Heartless lacked imagination." Issura said, smirking, "So, what did I win?"

Phil quirked a brow, "Honor?"

Issura smiled sweetly, "I was thinking something a bit shinier."

Phil blinked, "…A badge?"

* * *

Of course, Phil knew exactly what Issura was talking about and handed her her bag of well-earned gold. With it, she went to the nearest moogle shop hologram and purchased a hair coloring kit along with a pair of jeans and boots.

Knowing she would need a fairly dark color to cover up the pink, she bought a dark shade of burgundy and, after renting a room from the Coliseum, went into the bathroom and got to work.

It was late when she finished, and she was too tired to care to see the results. Exhausted, she threw two towels down onto the bed and flopped onto it long ways, vaguely hoping before she went to sleep that the dye wouldn't sink through and stain the bed.


	16. Leverage

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

(Leverage)

"It's orange…" Issura muttered, looking at herself in the mirror and running a hand over her hair, "It's fucking orange…" She stared at herself a moment longer, then screamed, "DAMN IT!"

'Well,' she thought as she threw a right tantrum and thrashed her room, 'At least no one will be able to recognize me.'

When she was spent on energy, Issura collapsed on her shredded bed and glared at the ceiling, arms splayed above her head.

"I'll need a new name." She murmured after a minute, "I was dumb enough to tell Axel and the others my real one before I left… Shit, how many names am I going to go through in one lifetime?"

She considered this for several minutes as she got dressed, finally deciding on going with the un-anagramized name that Luxord had given her the first time she had actually needed a name: Emily.

"As if those dimwits would notice, anyway," She thought, blowing a strand of orange hair out of her eyes.

There was a knock on her door, and when she called out a voice shouted, "Phil told me to tell you that the morning matches are starting in half an hour! Signups end soon, so you'd better go talk to him!"

Issura was on her feet in an instant, running out the door and heading straight for the arena.

"Good, you're here." Phil grunted as she walked up, not looking up from his clipboard. "Are you going to—Woah!" The satyr exclaimed, finally catching a glimpse of her hair, "What did you do to yourself, Is—"

"Emily." Issura interrupted quickly, bending down and putting a finger to her lips, "Call me Emily, Phil. I can't explain because it's safer for you if I don't, but forget who you saw yesterday. My name is Emily."

The satyr stared at her for a moment, then nodded slowly, "Alright, Emily, the matches start in fifteen minutes. You start at the thirteenth seed. Get ready."

* * *

Once again, the battles were against Heartless from the twelfth seed up, so other than expending a bit of energy to manipulate the creatures into killing each other, she stood back and did nothing.

When she got to the fourth seed, though…

"You're not a Heartless." Issura blinked.

"That's right." The girl, a cheeky-looking teen with a giant shuriken on her back, grinned widely, "And I'll take it from your reaction that your little control technique doesn't work on anything other than Heartless."

Issura quirked a brow. The assumption was, in fact, incorrect; it just wasn't as easy if the target wasn't Heartless.

Then again, as if she were about to tell the girl that.

"Your silence speaks for it-seeeelf!" The girl sang, dancing to the side and chucking her shuriken.

Blinking vapidly, Issura flicked her wrist in the girl's direction, making her spring forward and jump. She landed in front of Issura and nearly took a direct hit from the shuriken before she reacted and caught it. Smirking, Issura released the girl's body.

Flipping back across the arena, the girl spun around and glared at Issura, "So, you can use it on people, huh? Well, then," She crouched, smirking, "Guess I'll have to be faster, won't I?" She then disappeared, a puff of leaves and smoke swirling where she had been.

Sighing, Issura closed her eyes and held out her hands, turning her wrists so her palms faced up. 'This should be no different from the fight against Zigbar.'

Feeling one, small shuriken coming, she stepped to the side, smirking when it clanged uselessly to the ground beside her. She then dodged another, then another, then another, and so on.

"Geez!" The ninja girl shouted, reappearing and crossing her arms, "You have got the greatest reaction time I've seen beyond my own!"

Issura blinked, "That's nice." She then took control of the girl's arm and aimed a shuriken at her head.

The girl balked immediately, managing to snap her fingers open and drop the blade. "Hey!"

"I'd apologize… if fighting weren't the objective here." Issura smirked.

The ninja pursed her lips, then disappeared in again, this time shuriken flying at an amazing speed.

Nonplused, Issura began to dodge as many as she could, but before long pain blossomed on the underside of her arm.

"The hell?!" She cursed, flipping her arm over to stare at the thin, oozing red line, "I thought I dodged that!"

"Ha!" The ninja reappeared in front of her, laughing, "I figured it out! I sent two shuriken at you, one real and one infused with magic, and you couldn't dodge the magic blade, which was sent to rebound! You dodged the magic one the first time, but not the second! You can't dodge a rebounding weapon!"

Issura stared at her for a moment, mouth opening and closing repeatedly before the hand of her non-injured arm shot into the air. "I give."

* * *

"Why'd ya quit?!" The ninja asked after the competition was over, jogging to keep up with Issura, "The Great Ninja Yuffie, by the way."

Issura paused, looking down at the girl and frowning, "Huh?"

"My name!" Yuffie smirked, jabbing her thumb at her chest, "I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie, but you can call me 'Conqueror', 'Supreme One', 'O Mighty One', or something like that."

"Emily," Issura rolled her eyes, walking on, "And I think I'll just stick with 'Yuffie'."

"Hey, wait, you didn't answer my question!" Grudgingly, Issura stopped and waited for Yuffie. "So, why did you quit? It's not like I was gonna kill ya!"

"I prefer to cut my losses when I can. Save myself a few injuries." With a frown, Issura looked around and asked, "Don't you have… friends or family to hang out with?"

"That's a great idea!" Yuffie exclaimed, grabbing Issura's hand and dragging her back towards the arena, "You can have lunch with us!"

"That's not what I—!" But it was too late.

Despite the older woman's continuous attempts at pulling away, Yuffie pulled her on until she stopped in front of three other people.

"Hey, guys!" Yuffie exclaimed, shoving Issura in front of her, "This is Emily! She was the one who made all of those Heartless fight each other."

"Actually, they were more 'dismantling' each other than anything." Issura grumbled unhappily, looking up and freezing upon seeing the three people standing before her.

"Alright, Em," Yuffie began cheerfully, "This is Leon," She gestured to a stern-looking man with a huge sword hanging from his waist, "Aerith," A girl in a pink dress nodded and smiled, "And Cid." A tall blonde with an orange warmer around his stomach and an oversized toothpick sticking out of his mouth.

Raising her hand timidly, Issura smiled slightly and waved, "Hi."

"Quite a trick you pulled out there, girlie." Cid crossed his arms, looking down at Issura suspiciously, "How did you do that?"

"It's just… something I can do." Issura shrugged, scratching her cheek nervously.

"Controlling Heartless is 'just something you can do'?" Leon repeated, frowning in disbelief.

"Hey, hey!" Yuffie interrupted, pursing her lips and stepping between Issura and the two men, "This is no way to treat my new friend!"

"They don't really mean it." Aerith said kindly, smiling at Issura, "Life has just taught them to be on their guard."

"Heh, I don't blame them in the least." Issura assured, holding up her hands, "In fact, I agree. If I were in your places, I wouldn't trust me, either."

"Em, stop it." Yuffie demanded, pouting. Then, she randomly perked up and turned to the others, smiling, "I invited Emily to eat lunch with us, so let's go already! I'm hungry!"

And, as I am sure we can all imagine, no one wants to contradict Yuffie when she's hungry.

* * *

"So, your name is Emily Even."

"Yes."

"You're originally from Twilight Town."

"Yes."

"But the Heartless came to your world and you ended up here, at the Coliseum."

"That's right."

"And you have the power to make every sentient thing do what you want, and you can specifically control Heartless easily, but you have no clue how you can do it."

"Yep."

"…Why did you name your cat Neuter, of all things?" Yuffie asked, blinking.

Issura shrugged, "I was having an airhead moment that day, and it said on his kennel that he had been neutered, so the name just stuck…" She sighed, rubbing the back of her head guiltily, "I hope he's alright… My father and my uncles aren't exactly the most… kindhearted."

Yuffie quirked a brow, "So, you lived in a house full of twelve men?"

"Actually, there was Aunt Arlene, but…" Issura smirked, "She was so masculine at times it was hard to tell the difference."

"I see…" Yuffie nodded, then glanced at the shrimp and rice in front of Issura, mostly untouched, "You gonna eat that?"

"Have at it."

As Yuffie dug into the food and her three friends watched in mixed horror, amusement, and vague disinterest, Issura sat back and thought about how much she had divulged in order to tell the people around her about her life.

She had given them a vague history of her life with the Organization, only she un-anagramized everyone's name (except Roxas) and she made them out to be blood relatives and, of course, leaving out any references to Heartless and Nobodies; not only was it safer for her to do this, it was also safer for them (though, truthfully, the second was just an additive and not high on her list of priorities).

"Em? Eeeeem? Em?! Emily!"

"Whu?" Issura blinked, shaking her head and batting away the hand Yuffie was waving in front of her face.

"You alright, there?" Yuffie tilted her head, "You spaced out."

"Thinking." Issura mumbled distractedly, raising a hand and covering one side of her face, "Nothing important…"

Yuffie nodded slowly, then said, "You know, not everyone you fight in the tournaments is going to be a Heartless."

Issura blinked, quirking a brow, "Like I didn't learn that from fighting you."

"What I'm getting at," Yuffie said, "Is you need a weapon. Like you saw with me, you won't always be able to make your opponents attack themselves."

Issura laughed nervously, "Hehe, I'm not the best with weapons."

"You just need to find the right one!" Yuffie smiled.

"How about a baton?" A new voice asked suddenly, a mop of red hair planting itself down beside Issura. "Nice, easy to use, compact, and requires little experience."

Yuffie, Cid and Aerith balked, "Reno?!"

"Really, a baton is a good weapon," Reno went on, ignoring the others, "But, if you do get one, I suggest you get one with a strap, like my Electro-Mag Rod, here." He held out a nightstick, showing how the butt of the rod connected to a leather brace on his arm, "It's a lot harder for the enemy to take it, then. It also allows you to perform several other attacks that would otherwise be impossible."

Issura blinked, "Why is it you keep popping up?"

Reno smirked, "My boss is interested in talking to you. Care to come?"

"I'm kinda having lunch with these guys right now…" She said weakly, glancing at the others.

"Whoa." Reno stood, holding out his hands in surrender, "No need to be nervous. Anytime is fine, if you have time. I'll just ask later." He smirked, winking at the others, "Yuffie. Cid. Aerith. Squall. Iss—"

"Emily." She cut in, looking at him imploringly.

Reno stared at her for a moment, then smirked, "Emily." He nodded slowly, "Right. Later."

Issura stared after him. 'Damn… he knows my real name…' She scrambled to her feet, panicking, "You know, now that I think about it, I really have to talk to him." She smiled at the others, "Nice meeting you all! We should do this again!"

Yuffie's eyes widened, "Em! Wai—" But Issura never gave her a chance to finish.

She ran after Reno, who had disappeared after turning a corner. She grabbed the wall and was about to rocket down the hall when she ran straight into a tall, suited figure.

"Am I so irresistible that you can't stand to be away from me?" The voice asked, amused.

"Reno!" Issura gasped, stumbling back and looking up at him.

He nodded, "Issura." Reno paused, then smirked, "Or should it be Emily?"

"Emily." She nodded, "Please, Reno, I'm Emily."

Reno shook his head slowly, clicking his tongue, "You know, if you're going to try to change your identity, you're gonna have to do a much better job than that." He leaned forward, reaching eyelevel with her, "I'll get to the point. My boss is interested in your abilities. He wants to talk to you, preferably as soon as possible. I'm supposed to make sure you not only see him, but agree to participate in his little business venture. And, unfortunately for you, I've got leverage."

Issura paled, "You wouldn't…"

He nodded, "I would." Reno then straightened, running a hand through his hair and sighing, "Look, I don't particularly like playing the role of the bad cop here, so why don't you just come with me, talk to my boss, join him, and I won't have to be mean."

"…" After staring at him for a moment, Issura looked at the ground and sighed, "Alright. Take me to him."

"Trust me; it'll be far less painless this way."

When he started to walk away, Issura followed. 'Well, this is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into, Issura. How will you get out?! You certainly can't make Reno's boss let you go; your powers only control movement, not thought.'

"Hey, Reno, who's your boss, anyway?"

Reno chuckled, "Rufus Shinra."


	17. Deals and What Come of Them

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

(Deals and What Come of Them)

"Right through there."

Issura blinked, leaning slightly to look down the dark alley Reno had led her to. Apparently, Rufus was waiting in a room at the end of this dark, sinister-looking alley.

"You do realize that this is horribly cliché of you guys, right?"

Reno rolled his eyes and sighed, "Just get going already."

A push from behind and a swift kick to the rear sent Issura reeling down the corridor and slamming into the door, which swung open and dumped her onto the floor.

Recovering quickly, Issura rolled to her feet and brushed herself off, laughing nervously at the four pairs of quirked eyebrows in front of her and the deep chuckle behind her. "So…" She glanced at the four people in front of her, "I take it one of you is… Rufus Shinra?"

"Actually, he's not in right at the moment." One of the people, an older female with brown hair and oddly glowing green-ish eyes, smirked, "But I'll be taking care of business until he returns." The woman paused, then smiled and giggled, "Hehe, that line just reminded me of an old song called 'Takin' Care of Business'…" She looked of, a slight glazed look filming her eyes, "Who sang that again? Bachman-Turner something-or-other… Overdrive, I think? …Weren't they Canadian?"

"Uhh… okay?" Issura blinked, voicing the opinion of the other four around her.

The woman shook her head, then sighed, "Sorry about that. Reminiscing. Anyway," She smiled and held out her hand, "My name is Astrid Cray, and the people around me are the Turks; Tseng, Elena, Rude, and you've already met Reno."

"Emily." Issura nodded, taking Astrid's hand and shaking it briefly.

Astrid nodded, "Rufus sent me here under the assumption that you wish to join Shin-Ra and do a bit of promotional work for us by fighting in the Coliseum, correct?"

Issura frowned, shaking her head, "No. That's not what—"

"I knew it." Astrid sighed angrily, cutting of the younger girl before she could finish, "Bastard lied to me. He probably dragged you into this unwillingly, didn't he?"

"Kinda, but it's not for promotional. See, I can—"

"Oh, so he lied about that too, did he?!" Astrid scowled and glanced at Elena, "Remind me; why do I love that man again?"

"—control… Heartless…" Issura finished lamely.

Astrid turned back to the girl, blinking, "Can you, now? Well, I see why he would be reluctant to admit something like that." She turned to Tseng, "This isn't another one of his 'Revive Shin-Ra' operations, is it?"

Tseng shrugged, "I'm not sure, Miss Cray."

"Astrid." Astrid shot back without really paying attention, as if she had done it a thousand times before and it had simply become instinct. "Anyway, Emily…" Astrid sighed, shrugging her shoulders sheepishly, "As long as you're being forced into this, would you like to get paid for it?"

"…Sure."

Astrid nodded, smiling, "Good. Now, what to do, what to do…" She looked Issura up and down, crossing one arm over her stomach and scratching her neck with the hand of the other, "You'll need a new wardrobe, first off… we'll replace any weapon you're currently using with a Shin-Ra issued counterpart… and we might as well move you to a room closer to ours in case you need anything…" She paused, blinking and snapping out of the business haze she had been in, "That is, if you don't mind."

"No, no, of course not!" Issura shook her head dramatically, "Actually, some of those things would be kinda nice! Only…"

"What?"

"Well…" She smiled nervously, "I kinda don't have a weapon right now…"

Astrid blinked, "Well, that's never good. Personally, I'm not too fond of weapons myself, but…" She reached up and laid a hand on a bulge at the side of her hip, presumably a gun by its location and size, "Relying on innate abilities too much leads to an unhealthy fighting balance. You at least need a back up…"

"I already got an idea for one for her." Reno's voice came from behind Issura, and a hand dropped heavily on her shoulder before he went on, "How about a baton?"

"Baton?" Astrid blinked, her head tilting slightly, "You mean those fancy sticks that gymnasts swing around?"

"No," Reno twitched slightly, offended, "A baton as in a truncheon… a billy club… a nightstick… a blackjack…" When Astrid still looked as blank as before, he groaned and pulled out his baton, "You know, like mine!"

"An Electro-Mag Rod?"

"Yeah, but minus the taser. It's a good weapon for beginners with no previous weapons experience."

Astrid rolled her eyes, "And with Gaia on the fritz and vanished, how do you expect us to get more batons? I certainly haven't seen any around here."

"Cool it, Boss Lady." Reno said smoothly, his voice suggesting the presence of a smirk, "I have plenty spares, some without the taser attachment. She can have one."

Issura stood still and listened to this, somewhat ticked that they were talking about her like she wasn't there. "Hu-uhmmm." She finally coughed.

Reno and Astrid stopped arguing, the latter blinking down at her, "Eh? Oh, right, well…" She paused, then smiled, "Want to draw up a contract?"

"Not really." Issura blinked, "Can I go back to my room, now?"

"Actually, no." Astrid's smile turned sheepish, "I really _need_ you to sign a contract, and you're going to really _want_ to. If you don't and Rufus finds out you talked to me, you'll be looking at getting a pretty shitty deal. If you sign one with my terms on it, you'll have some protection against his… less admirable business schemes."

Issura frowned, then sighed, "Fine."

Moving quickly, Astrid led Issura to a table and, literally, wrote out a rough outline and handed it to Issura, placing a pen near the paper and looking around nervously.

"Hurry. Rufus might be back at any moment."

"Miss Cray," Tseng sighed, "Is this a good idea? After all, President Rufus trusted you to take care of this honestly."

"And I am!" Astrid assured, smiling mischievously, "Just not so that it benefits Shin-Ra any more than it does her." She shrugged, "If he wanted someone who would cheat people out of fair deals, he shouldn't have made me Chief of External Affairs. And if he didn't learn that after my dealings with the WRO, then that's his own fault."

Issura stared at Astrid for a moment, then hunkered over the paper and scribbled out her fake name, passing the paper back to Astrid without reading it.

Astrid blinked, "You don't want to see what you're signing over?"

"Do I have to do anything other than fight?"

"No."

"Then no, I don't want to see what I'm signing over." Because it wasn't as if, if she absolutely needed to, Issura couldn't just flee to another world. Besides, this Astrid seemed trustable enough… at least, she seemed more trustable than this 'Rufus' sounded.

Just as Astrid had taken back the paper and was signing her own name, the door Issura had walked in opened and a new pair of feet walked in.

"So, Astrid, has she signed?" A male voice asked, his tone seeping with confidence and a cocky attitude that basically screamed he already knew the deal was signed, in blood if necessary.

Astrid leaned back in her seat and rolled he eyes, smirking, "You know it is, Rufus."

Issura glanced over her shoulder, staring at the tall blonde in the white suit as he walked passed her and around the table, standing behind Astrid and leaning far over her shoulder to read the paper in front of her.

As he read, the cocky smirk on his face began to slowly fade until it was completely gone and replaced with a frown. When his eyes looked away from the paper they landed on Astrid, and Rufus asked in a deadpanned voice, "Astrid, what is this?"

Astrid's smirk grew, "Her contract, signed by her and myself. It's official, and there's nothing you can do to take it back."

Rufus glared at her, "Astrid, this contract is…" He trailed off, glancing at Issura.

"Too much in her favor? I know." Astrid's smirk turned into a smile as she looked at Issura, "I like fair contracts. You can go now, Emily. I think Rufus and I are about to have an argument."

Issura jumped to her feet and was out of the room in an instant, but not before Reno shoved something into her hand. She didn't bother to stop and look at it; she just held onto it tightly and ran out of the creepy hall and back to the main area of the Coliseum.

There, finally away from the shady people in that strange, random dark alley, she looked down at what Reno had handed her, blinking at the nightstick in her hand.

"Well… at least I finally have a weapon… and it only cost me my soul…" Issura chuckled, "Good thing they don't know I don't have a soul."

* * *

"You think that's gonna beat me twice?" Yuffie hissed through gritted teeth, a smile forming on her face as she gradually began to regain control of her body.

"No." Issura shrugged, walking forward and pulling her collapsible nightstick out of her sleeve. A flick of her wrist extended the weapon, and when she was right in front of Yuffie she swung, hitting the girl in the neck.

Yuffie twitched, then fell over, passed out.

"Then again," Issura muttered, "When you wake up, I don't expect you fall for that again, either. You were only cocky this time."

In the end, Issura won the competition, with one fourth of her winnings going straight into Shin-Ra's pocket and the rest going to her.

After handing over Shin-Ra's agreed upon amount to Astrid, who was there with a sullen Rufus to congratulate her for her win, she made her way back to her room.

There, she flopped down onto her bed and dropped her nightstick onto the ground in front of her, staring at it.

'So… this is my life now… isn't it?'

She reached over her shoulder and grabbed some of her hair, looking at it.

'My name is now Emily Even, I'm a teenage girl with orange hair and blue eyes… I have the power to bend the wills of others and I can make Heartless do whatever I want. I live at the Olympus Coliseum and I fight in the name of Shin-Ra, using a Shin-Ra weapon with connections to the elite group of assassins, the Turks.'

Issura paused in her thinking for a moment, then flopped back onto her bed and stared at the ceiling.

'I think I liked it better when I was just Vexen's experiment; life was nice, simple, and structured.'

* * *

Issura's eyes snapped open, a pounding on her door waking her from a dead sleep.

"Yo!" Reno's voice called from the other side of the door, "Em! Wake up! You got a match in an hour! …Em?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Issura shouted back, crawling out of her bed and crashing to the ground. "I hear ya!"

"Alight. See you there!"

Groaning, Issura crawled over to a pile of clothes at the end of her bed, pulling out a rumpled, white blouse and a pair of black suit pants, choosing to completely forgo the jacket, even if she risked pissing off Rufus.

After working for the man for a year, she was used to his temper, and she knew if things got too bad that Astrid would step in and help her.

"A year…" She muttered with a sigh, pulling the pants up over her hips, buttoning them and cinching them with the belt already through the loops, "One year since I signed over my soul to Shin-Ra… one year since I left the Organization. Thank Kingdom Hearts none of them have found me…"

Every now and then she thought she would see the spiky, flaming hair of Axel or the flick of a long, black cloak in the shadows, only to realize a moment later the hair was really Reno's and the cloak was her own, hung in the back of her closet.

Once she had buttoned up her shirt and unbuttoned the sleeve cuffs so they hung comfortably around her wrists, she picked up her nightstick from the dresser and fastened the strap around her wrist, letting the weapon just hang.

Then, she wandered into the bathroom and picked up her brush, dragging it through her still orange hair that she had hacked so that it only reached her chin, making it a lot easier to manage.

As time had gone on after she had escaped the Organization and she began to settle into more human habits, she gradually began to see how lazy she was, and her appearance proved that.

The white shirt she was wearing was clean, but it was wrinkled from days or even weeks of just laying on the floor, its hanger dangling, unused, in the closet. The pants were creased in all the wrong places though they were, like the shirt, clean.

She'd just never really bothered to hang them up after having them washed. Her socks, though, were a different story; since they were the same pair she had worn for three days and two nights, and all she really did for them was pull a box of Arm & Hammer out of the medicine cabinet and sprinkled a little onto her feet, deciding to change her socks before she went to bed that night.

After pulling on her shoes, Issura walked out of her room and locked the door behind her, shoving her hands into her pockets and drug her feet out to the arena.

"Oh, in the name of all that is Holy!" Astrid groaned when she saw Issura, "Emily, I swear, this is the fourth time this week! You're worse than Reno!"

Reno smirked, "Does that mean you'll get off of my back?"

"No."

Issura shrugged, "What do the matches look like today?"

"Actually, there isn't much for you to do." Astrid shrugged, "Hades has been sending up quite a few baddies for Hercules to take care of, so the crowd has all packed in to see those matches. Phil had no choice but to cancel the regular matches."

"Eh." Issura grimaced, "Pluto's screwing around with Wonder Boy, huh?" She paused, then asked, "Does that mean I can go back to bed?"

"No." Astrid rolled her eyes, "Your orders today are to get out and get some sun; all you've been doing for the past few months is sleeping and fighting. You're dismissed."

Issura groaned, then turned and walked away, heading to the entrance of the Coliseum. There, she flopped down onto the steps and leaned against a pillar, staring off into space.

One thing she had discovered about living on her own, away from the Organization, was that she now had nothing to do.

The only time Yuffie and the others came was when they were interested in fighting, and apparently they were busy rebuilding their home world, which had reappeared after Sora had sealed all of the keyholes.

Issura hadn't really made any friends outside of Yuffie's group and Astrid and the Turks, if she could really call the latter 'friends' (she didn't even want to consider Rufus a 'friend').

Thus, when she was alone and didn't have to fight, she either slept or sat alone, staring off into space.

Except something seemed off today.

The doors to the Coliseum, which were usually closed, where open. And instead of the usual starry sky of space on the other side, there was a long, winding staircase and a void of swirling black.

"Well… that's new."

After staring at the stairs for a moment, Issura stood and walked to the gates, looking down the stairs. She stood for a moment, then began to walk down.


	18. Seen but not Found

*lowers head* Forgive me my laziness...

Kingdom Hearts and PlayStation are owned by Squaresoft and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Kingdom Hearts storyline (such as the new Heartless) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

(Seen but not Found)

As she descended the winding black staircase into the world below, Issura could still hear the sounds of Hercules battling a Titan behind her; the Rock Titan, by the sound of it.

'That guy has some terrible insults.' She winced as the Rock Titan roared out a bad earth pun; something about 'burying Hercules alive', or something equally dumb.

Shaking her head and pushing the Coliseum from her mind, Issura tensed as the nearby save point glowed, indicating someone was disembarking from a Gummi Ship. Reacting impulsively, she dove behind a nearby stalagmite, peeking out and watching as Sora, Donald, and Goofy appeared in a flash and rolled out, landing in a heap.

"Huh?" Sora's voice echoed throughout the deep cavern, not even dripping water and odd distortion by the vast expanse able to disguise his confusion.

She watched as the three stood, the dog, Goofy, asking as they looked around, "Are ya sure this is the Coliseum?"

"It's that way!" Donald warbled, making Issura jumped when he pointed in her direction. She could tell, though, by the context of the conversation that he was pointing to the staircase she had just descended, which was right beside her.

"Oh…" Sora laughed slightly and shrugged, "Guess we were a little off." He began to led his two teammates to the stairs when there was a scream, then Issura watched them as they turned and ran back to help Megara, Hercules's girlfriend, who was being chased by Heartless.

After the trio had saved Megara and had a quick conversation with her, they changed their destination from the Coliseum to a blue door to the right of the staircase. When they had stepped through the door, Issura stepped out of her hiding place and made to follow them.

"Hey! Emily!"

Issura froze, blinking and turning to Megara. She smiled nervously, "Yes, Meg?"

Megara frowned, "Where are you going? Don't you know who lives down there?"

"Ol' Blue Face himself; Pluto. Right?" Issura's smile widened, "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

"And just _why_ are you going down there?" The older woman pressed.

Issura fell silent for a moment as she thought, then the nervousness in her smile faded and she answered, "I don't know." Leaving Megara and herself thoroughly confused, Issura turned and ran to the door, leaving no room for further questioning.

In the first chamber, a wide, circular area, bare of anything except for a few tall candlesticks.

Issura looked around, blinking, "Well… if this isn't an obvious battle sight, then I have never fought before in my life." Rolling her eyes, she walked on to the doorway in the back, ignoring the Heartless as they morphed into existence around her.

They were new species that she had never seen before, but, like their predecessors, they held the basic instinct that told them what she was and held back, sticking with slinking around her carefully rather than approaching her directly. The only time they would ever attack her would be in the Coliseum arena, and even then it would be with some reluctance.

Issura was just walking through the archway into a long, winding, downward sloped cavern when a corridor of darkness opened in front of her and a black cloaked figure ran out, crashing into her and sending them both toppling. The next moment, Issura was laying on her back and staring at the stalactites on the ceiling, dazed and confused, with a long, lanky body sprawled across hers, the persons head resting on her chest.

For a moment, neither did a thing.

Then, the cloaked figure wrapped their lithe arms around her waist and nuzzled their head against her chest. "Mmmmmm… warm."

Having dealt with the owner of this voice on several occasions, Issura was barely thinking about who the person was _with_ and more of who the person _was_ and reacted accordingly.

"DEMYX, GET THE HELL OFF!!" She roared, flicking her nightstick out of the sleeve of her jacket and swinging it across her body, catching the boy upside the head and sending them careening into the wall.

"Owie, owie, owie, ow ow ow ow ow!!" The cloaked figure rolled around for a moment, clutching his head, then rolling on his back and whimpering as Issura stood and glared down at him.

Livid, Issura clenched her hands and glared down at him, hissing, "You little prick…"

The person stared up at her, then braced his hands against the ground above his head and rolled his body up onto his shoulder blades, legs rising into the air and arching out, then falling forward and landing squarely on the ground as he vaulted off of his hands and back onto his feet. Then, he quickly pulled back the hood of his cloak and spun around, the green-eyed mullet-haired youth staring at Issura with wide eyes.

"Issura?!"

Tensing, Issura took a step back and bit her lip, "I'm not—"

"Like hell!" Demyx cut her off, pointing at her with a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, "I'd recognize _you_ anywhere if you were angry!" He blinked, then giggled a bit, "What happened to your hair?"

"Long story." Issura rolled her eyes, deciding to skip denial and move straight to anger as she crossed her arms and glared at him. "What are you doing here?"

Demyx gapped. "What am _I_ doing here?! What're _you_ doing here?!" He shook his head as he went on, "We've been looking for you _forever_!! Do you have any idea how pissed Xemnas was after you left?! Not to mention how many of the heartless went out of whack! We had to kill a majority of them and Xemnas spent almost half a year trying to figure out how to breed new ones!"

Issura dramatized a yawn, "Yeah, yeah, that's nice. Well, if we're done here, it's been great seeing you, but…" She turned to leave, only to be stopped when Demyx threw his arms around her shoulders, pulling her back and resting his chin against her shoulder.

"Sorry." He muttered, "But we were given strict orders to bring you back to The World That Never Was if we found you, and I'm pretty sure this constitutes as finding you."

Sighing and closing her eyes as the cold blackness of a corridor of darkness opened beneath them, Issura tightened her grip on her nightstick and said, "Sorry, but I don't plan on going back." Issura spun around, shoving the butt of her nightstick up into Demyx's diaphragm.

Demyx choked and wheezed, the corridor of darkness flickering and fading as he began to sink to his knees, clutching at his chest.

Issura wrapped her arms around him and eased him to the ground, then jumped over his writhing form and took off down the long stone hall, not daring to look back.

Stone walls rushed passed her in a blur of grey, as did four figures that ran back the way she came, barely pausing to shout back at her. So determined was she to get away from Demyx that Issura hardly noticed the Underworld passing her by until she came to a dead end; an empty throne room-looking place with a large chair in the back and a circular depression in the center.

'Must be Pluto's 'evil lair'.' She thought as she leaned against the wall, panting.

"Why, hello."

Issura tensed, turning slowly to stare at the figure.

Floating above the depression in the center of the room was an older woman, wearing a blue dress and a long blue coat, with braided brown hair and blue eyes. The woman was smiling in a motherly way, but there was something in her eyes that told Issura she could be cruel if she had to.

Fortunately, this didn't seem to be that kind of situation.

"I am Rayne." The woman said, smile widening.

"Uh…" Issura blinked and shook her head, "Issura… I mean Em…" She stopped, biting her lip and cursing herself internally.

Rayne, though, just nodded, "Go on. What would you rather be called?"

"…Emily?" Issura muttered, unsure.

"Alright." Rayne nodded seriously, "I can do that. I know how important it can be to keep… certain truths about yourself _to_ yourself. Now, then, Emily, I have a question."

Issura blinked, "Yes?"

"Have you seen my husband? He's a rough man in a red coat carrying a giant sword, and he's not a very good people person."

"No, I—" Issura started to answer, then stopped, remembering the four blurs she had passed on her way down. One of them had been red… "Wait… I think so. Was he headed towards the main entrance of the Coliseum?"

Rayne frowned, "I'm not sure…" She sighed, crossing her arms over her stomach tightly and shifting her weight to one hip, "I hate to do this… but could you go check on him for me? I don't know what Hades wants with him, but it can't be good…"

Issura frowned, "Why can't you?"

"Because…" Rayne smiled bitterly, raising one hand and slowly sticking it out until it crossed the rim of the depression. When it had crossed the threshold, it began to dissolve. "I'm dead." She explained when Issura gasped, "Auron was the one that was summoned, not me. I was just nearby when he was summoned, so I was brought this far, but the spell doesn't cover my leaving this area so I'm stuck here."

"I…" Issura winced, "I'm so… sorr—"

"Don't apologize." Rayne cut her off, smiling, "I've lived enough for several lifetimes and I regret nothing. All I want is my husband back so he and I can rest."

"I can understand that. I'll… look for him for you. And I'll tell him your waiting."

Rayne blinked, her smile widening, "Thank you very much, Emily. This is greatly appreciated."

"No problem." Issura nodded, smiling. "Well… I guess I'll be off, now." She turned to walk out, then paused and turned back, "And if any guys in long black coats come asking about me, I wasn't here."

"Who wasn't here?" Rayne called after her, making Issura smile as she shut the door.

On her way out, Issura walked passed a fuming Hades, who in his anger didn't notice her until she called out after him.

"Beaten by a boy, Pluto?" She giggled, diving through a corridor of darkness when he roared and turned to throw a fireball at her.

In that corridor, though, she was met…

"Hey, Issura!" Demyx cheered, throwing his arms around her neck from behind and hugging her, "C'mon, you should know better than that! When we're looking for you, it's a bad idea to use a corridor…"

Issura twitched, flailing and looking around.

Demyx kept a firm grip on her, though allowed her to turn and look, turning with her and keeping behind her.

"Just you and me." He said when she had turned a complete circle, "Don't worry; I haven't told Xemnas yet… Thought I'd give you the chance to come back on your own."

"…I'm not coming back, Demyx." Issura said, clenching her hands, "I like life out here… And I don't want to serve the Organization anymore."

Demyx sighed, "You can't do that. The Organization's on the move; they're going to every world in search of hearts. You'll be found sooner or later, Issura, and it's better if it's by me rather than one of the others. They won't be this allowing…"

Issura smirked, leaning back in his arms and glancing over her shoulder, "C'mon, Demy, you and I both know that you aren't trying to take me in by force because you're afraid of getting you ass kicked."

He grinned widely, "Yeah, that, too." He paused, then said, "Hey, random request, but could I get a good look at you? Last time all I really noticed was your hair…"

She thought about it, then nodded, stepping forward and turning around when he let her go.

Demyx looked her up and down, smirking and nodding, "Nice, nice. Though, I gotta say, you looked better in the black coat. Formfitting shows off your figure…"

Issura twitched and smacked him.

"That was a compliment!" Demyx whined, rubbing his reddening cheek and looking at her sullenly.

"Pervert." Issura blinked, "Wait… The Organization is on the move again?"

He stared at her for a moment, then nodded, "Yeah."

"And what are you here for, then? Surely you're not just screwing around…"

Demyx shrugged, "Lookin' for the Keyblade Master."

Issura blinked, "Sora? That kid's _here_?" They knew? Already?

"So our sources say. You haven't seen him, then?"

"No." She growled. This wasn't good. If the Organization knew Sora was here, then more of them just might come. Demyx she could handle, but if Luxord or even Saix showed up, she'd be screwed… "Demy, it's been great seeing you, but I—"

"No!" Demyx lunged and tackled her, latching on to her waist, "You can't run again! The Superior will kick my ass if he finds out that I saw you and didn't bring you back! C'mon, Issy!" He looked at her and pouted, "Can you really live with knowing that I got hurt because of you?"

Issura twitched, "First off, get off of me. Second, don't call me 'Issy'. Third… yes. Yes I could."

Demyx stared at her flatly, "Bitch."

"Brat. Now, get off." When he didn't move, she sighed, "Look, Demyx, Xemnas won't find out if you _don't_ tell him, ya dig?"

"…" He smirked, "Did you just say 'ya dig'?"

"…Damned catchy human phrases…"

Demyx giggled, then stared at her, "Are you suggesting that I… lie to the Superior?"

She shrugged, "It's not lying if you never bring it up in the first place, now is it?" Issura paused, then met his eyes and stared at him imploringly, "Please, Demyx… don't make me go back there…"

"…You really don't want to come back, do you?" When she looked away, he blinked, "Was it that hard for you, Issura? …When Vexen died, I mean."

Issura flinched, turning her head away. She had held no love for the scientist… for more reason than the obvious fact that it was impossible for her to love. If anything, she should hate him for everything he'd done to her, for what he'd made her. Even if that hate was false… she could at least pretend she had it. Vexen deserved no more than that.

Still, part of her still felt closely tied to him, even after he was dead and she had been released from his control. Some part of her… still felt something for his loss.

'Was it that feeling that I ran from?'

"…Issy?"

Issura smacked Demyx again, "I said don't call me that…" She looked down at him, "Demyx, what does Xemnas want me back for?"

He blinked, as if the answer were obvious, "To run the labs, of course."

"That's all, then?…" That, of course, was indeed the obvious answer. Still…

"…I won't turn you in."

Issura blinked, "Eh?"

Demyx sighed, "I won't turn you in. You'll get caught at one point or another, anyway, and I'd rather not have to fight you if I can avoid it." He stared at her stubbornly, "But I wanna see you again before I leave this world. When can I meet you?"

Issura stared at him, then sighed and smiled, "I have some business in the upper world of the Coliseum. I'll take care of it, then come back to the Underworld and find you. How does that sound?"

"…Good." Demyx crawled off of her and stood, holding out his hand and pulling her up when she took it. "Things're different around the castle without you. It's… colder, not having somewhere to go and someone to bug."

She rolled her eyes, "Honestly, Demy, I was only had my free will for a short while… You can't have enjoyed it that much in such a small window of time."

Demyx just stared at her, then shrugged and turned away, exiting the corridor.

Issura stared after him, then sighed and made her own exit.


End file.
